Students with significant disabilities typically experience poor postschool employment outcomes. However, when provided opportunities to work and engage within their communities, they can gain necessary work-specific and workplace social skills to improve outcomes. This article outlines a six-step model for community-based employment programs…

Parent-to-Parent individualized mentoring is an understudied strategy that has potential for supporting parents of children with disabilities as they learn to navigate the special educational planning process. Preliminary findings from a formative evaluation of individualized, intensive parent-to-parent mentoring services are shared. Data were…

The purpose of the Doctoral Capstone project was to examine the effects of a community-based program on adults with disabilities. For many years, individuals with disabilities have been socially excluded from the community for many years. Individuals with scholarly handicaps are unequally defenseless against social rejection, destitution and abuse…

This action research study investigates how the implementation of a Choice-Based Art curriculum might foster the development of self-determination in pre-kindergarten through first-grade students with diverse learning needs. Through a case study conducted over a ten-week period, the participant-researcher, an art teacher at a non-profit community…

The effectiveness of community based rehabilitation (CBR) programmes depends on the calibre of staff recruited and employed. Therefore, this study aimed to understand how the life experiences of community disability workers (CDWs) in Malawi, Botswana and South Africa influenced their choice of career. A life history approach was used to gather…

The purpose of the study was to compare the difficulties encountered by the mothers having children with mental disabilities or autism in participating to community life. The participants were 21 mothers who have mentally handicapped child and 21 mothers who have child with autism from Istanbul, Turkey. Data was collected through semi-structured…

A survey of presidents of 21 local chapters of the California Association of Neurologically Handicapped Children--Association for Children with Learning Disabilities was conducted to investigate improvements in attitudes during the International Year of Disabled Persons (IYDP), the positive changes brought about by IYDP community activities, and…

The Personal Integration Inventory is a "survey" that can be used to look at the life of a single developmentally disabled individual and the extent to which s/he is becoming integrated into his/her community. It focuses on the day-to-day experiences and interactions of people who live in community settings and should be completed by…

This report describes the development of a community-based service for the implementation of augmentative and alternative communication strategies with regard to children with severe disabilities in South Africa. The intervention process was developed by the Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication of the University of Pretoria. The…

This 3-year project attempted to: (1) provide direct support to students with severe disabilities in accessing recreation opportunities; (2) develop and present inservice training on integrated leisure opportunities in New England; and (3) disseminate information on ways to integrate school and community recreation activities. The project was…

This evaluation project was designed to assess 37 persons (ages 21-72) who had moved from intermediate care facilities or skilled nursing facilities into innovative one-person or two-person community integrated living arrangements as a result of the Supported Placements in Integrated Community Environments project. The 37 persons had severe or…

This curriculum on supported employment for individuals with disabilities is intended for case managers in Montana and focuses on programs and processes relevant to the case manager's typical roles of long-range planning, coordination, and facilitation. Part 1 discusses the move toward inclusion, including its value, the concept of normalization,…

The final report of the Head Injury Re-entry Project (Project HIRe) describes activities of this 3-year (1987 to 1990) project, which used a "best practices" model approach and a community-based employment strategy with persons having traumatic brain injury (TBI) in nonurban areas. Among 15 project accomplishments are the following: (1)…

This study examined postschool vocational options for people with disabilities in New South Wales (Australia), by means of a survey and interviews with representatives of government agencies, tertiary education facilities, and unions and employer organizations. Results indicated a lack of vocational facilities for young people with severe…

This manual on development of transition planning programs/services for high school youth with disabilities and their families is based on the premises that both youth and family members need to be actively involved in every step of the transition planning process, that empowered families can access necessary transition and adult services needed…