This curriculum is designed to enable youth and young adults with disabilities to gain greater personal control over their lives by providing them and their families with information and skills that support the exercise of self-determination. The youth/young adult family member with a disability is a full participant in all activities. The…

This self-study manual for program administrators serving young special needs children and their families gives an overview of agency administration from the perspective of a family-centered approach. The areas of agency administration include: (1) family-centered philosophy and sound management practices; (2) governance; (3) mission; (4)…

This document includes a final report, manual, and booklets from a project conducted to develop an instructional video program and related print materials, combined with literacy training, peer sharing, and reading practice opportunities targeted to families of young children in which at least one member is deaf. In the video program, vignettes…

This proceedings document provides the texts of 13 presentations given at a 2-day conference in 1991 which focused on policies, materials, programs, and activities being implemented in Alabama to foster the successful transition of youth with disabilities to adult life. Two papers address the national scene: "Transition: Old Wine in New…

This paper presents a revised K-12 master's teacher certification program that gives emphasis to training secondary teachers, in response to Alabama's urgent need to have highly trained secondary special education teachers in the area of transition of students with disabilities from school to adult life. The proposed teacher preparation program is…

This monograph articulates eight key elements of a family-centered approach to policy and practice for children needing specialized health and developmental services. An introductory section reviews the development of the first edition of the monograph in 1987 and its widespread dissemination and acceptance since that time. Each of the following…

This guide was developed to help people meet the challenge of developing early childhood programs that are inclusive of all children, regardless of disability. The manual was written in the spirit of a quilting book, in its recognition of the importance of the quiltmaker's (and the program developer's) own adaptations, creativity, and inspiration.…

This report describes a program for decreasing student underachievement. The targeted population consisted of two German classes at the third- and fourth-year levels in a high school in a suburb of a major metropolitan area. Persistent student underachievement was documented through homework percentages, participation percentages, overall grades,…

This document consists of ten annual Spanish Language Bulletins, published during the period 1987-1996. The early bulletins were largely composed of selections originally published in the Bernard van Lear Foundation's English-Language "Newsletter The articles discuss topics such as: (1) parents as children's first teachers; (2) health and…

Antisocial behavior can be reduced if services focus on changing the known determinants of behavior problems in the natural environments in which children and families live. The development of multisystemic treatment (MST) gives mental health professionals a powerful new tool for confronting antisocial behavior in children and adolescents,…

This publication summarizes Alaskan school district information required by the 3-year-old Alaska Quality Schools Initiative and provides a comprehensive report on the status of public education in Alaska. Following a message from the commissioner and a one-page glance at Alaskan education, there is a brief explanation of the Alaska Quality…

This module presents the philosophical perspective that the fostering of family/professional partnerships is an integral part of effective service delivery to young children with disabilities. The module addresses the issues involved in nurturing the development of dynamic working relationships with families. The issues include: (1) understanding…

This document describes four states' approaches to increasing the involvement of families in schools. It discusses the strategies used by the states to: (1) enhance teachers' capacity to work with families; (2) encourage local school districts to develop family involvement programs; (3) encourage efforts that use family involvement as a component…

This proceedings report presents dropout statistics, descriptions of prevention programs, and recommendations for future efforts. After an introduction to the dropout problem, the proceedings contains transcripts of welcomes and greetings from the mayor of Lubbock and officials from Texas Tech's College of Education, the State Board of Education,…

This document is a directory of current and newly expired projects funded under the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services Secondary Education and Transition Initiative. Projects included address the following areas: self-determination projects, family networking projects, follow-up and follow-along projects, training and…