Adapted from a larger distance learning program, this video guide is designed for use by students who feel most comfortable working within the video modality. It contains self-study exercises for development of job-related reading, writing, problem-solving, and reasoning skills required of direct care workers. This independent, self-paced course…

This organizational vignette is one in a multi-part series highlighting community providers. This particular issue spotlights Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Inc., of Boston, Massachusetts, an organization that works with youth at risk, many of whom have developmental disabilities. The collaboration between Bridge and the Institute for Community…

A pictograph and icon-driven training program has been specifically designed for educators who are responsible for teaching the developmentally disabled regarding the safe use of hazardous chemicals. In alignment with the Americans with Disabilities Act, it offers "reasonable accommodation" by those who educate and train this special…

Argues importance of a flexible approach to educating physically and developmentally disabled children, one that allows children to learn and play with attention to age, stages, temperaments, personalities and individual needs. Notes that staff attitudes and willingness to adjust schedules, plans, room arrangement, curriculum, and expectations are…

Examined longitudinally the cognitive and adaptive behavior development of children with disabilities and their families' adaptation over time. Found that children's type of disability predicted trajectories in development of cognition and social and daily living skills. Type of disability also predicted changes in maternal (but not paternal)…

Background: Little is known on the adult outcome and longitudinal trajectory of childhood developmental language disorders (DLD) and on the prognostic predictors. Method: Seventeen men with a severe receptive DLD in childhood, reassessed in middle childhood and early adult life, were studied again in their mid-thirties with tests of intelligence…

This book is a collection of essays on helping people with developmental disabilities communicate successfully. It is intended for practitioners and students in special education, speech-language pathology, and psychology. The essays are as follows: "Communicative Behaviour in the Least Restrictive Environment" (Ken Linfoot); "Play…

This final report describes the Case Method of Instruction (CMI) Project, a project to develop, field test, and disseminate training materials to facilitate the use of the Case Method of Instruction by inservice and preservice instructors in developmental disabilities. CMI project activities focused on developing a collection of case stories and…

This speech reports on data collected by the Early Intervention Collaborative Study (EICS), which is a longitudinal study following the development of 190 young children with disabilities (and their families) who entered 29 publicly funded early intervention programs in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in the period from 1985 to 1987. The…

This paper summarizes results of federal legislation and court litigation addressing special education issues. The first section considers cases in which rights were secured through litigation. These include rights of minority groups, rights of the mentally ill, rights of the mentally retarded, and the right to a fair classification. The second…

This volume reports on the fifth nationwide survey of trends in mental retardation (MR) and developmental disabilities (DD). It begins with four chapters summarizing trends in the nation as a whole. The first chapter is "Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives" (David Braddock). This…

This guide is intended to assist caregivers of people with development disabilities in acquiring knowledge about sexuality and skill in expressing sexuality in a safe and appropriate manner. Section 1 provides an overview of the history of sexuality and developmentally disabled individuals. The second section provides exercises for the caregiver…

This collection presents papers from the 1989 Southeast Augmentative Communication Conference. Papers include: "The Augmentative Communication Pre-School Program: Consultation Model" (Barbara Armstrong); "Affect and Its Communication In the Closed Head Injury Population While Using Augmentative Communication Devices" (Banajee,…

The guide offers information to parents of developmentally disabled children, with special focus on services available in the State of Florida, Section 1, "A Beginning," introduces the guide and states its purposes, and serves to reassure the parents and family members. The next three sections address the needs, rights, and roles of…

The Functional Ability Rating Scale (FARS) is an instrument developed by local direct service workers in the field of human services to provide an objective measure of an individual's degree of limitation in seven areas of major life activity (MLA). The subject's level of functioning is assessed in Self-Care, Language and Communication, Learning…