Suchergebnisse

The development of self-determination in individuals with severe disabilities is recognized as a critical goal for special education. Although increasing attention is being paid to this subject, efforts to date have focused largely on adolescents and young adults. It is highly unlikely that the characteristics associated with self-determination suddenly emerge in adolescence. This article calls attention to the need to look at the early roots of self-determination from a developmental point of view and examines the relationship of selected practices in early childhood special education to skills associated with self-determination. Curriculum and instructional approaches that appear to support the foundations of self-determination are discussed.

This investigation assessed perceptions of special educators regarding the education and treatment needs of students with profound or multiple handicaps or medically fragile conditions. A survey was distributed nationally to 500 special educators chosen randomly from the membership list of The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps. The survey sought to: (a) identify what educators perceived to be important variables in delivering quality educational programs, (b) determine current classroom practices, and (c) identify what educators perceived to be strengths and weaknesses of their university teacher training programs. A total of 148 surveys were returned (29.6%) and 123 were included in the final data analysis. Results indicate that respondents did not feel adequately trained by university teacher training programs to work with many individuals having profoundly handicapping conditions. Some teachers did not include certain curricular areas (e.g., vocational skills, community living skills) because they felt they would not benefit students. For a variety of reasons, instructional techniques such as integration strategies, application of technology, and use of van Dijk, neurodevelopmental, and Piagetian procedures also are not implemented by some teachers. In general, as class size and the proportion of students with profound disabilities increases, teachers find implementation of some best practices to be less important.

Systematic preference assessment is the process of presenting sampling trials and observing the person's response. The response to those items is then interpreted as an indicator of preference. The empirical research on systematic preference assessment has greatly advanced the field's understanding of how to identify the preferences of individuals with nonsymbolic and limited symbolic communication skills. The purpose of this paper is to translate this research into guidelines for planning systematic preference assessments that strive to reduce the risk of missing or misinterpreting the person's preferences, as well as increase the social validity of the process and outcomes. We present four guiding questions for practitioners to plan preference assessments: (a) What will be offered? (b) When and where will sampling opportunities take place? (c) Who will present the sampling options? and (d) How will sampling options be presented?

This article describes a model for representing functional competencies in students with disabilities. Although strategies exist to identify skills and activities that are functional for students with severe handicaps, these strategies provide relatively little information on how to separate the functional skills into meaningful component parts that represent the range of behaviors needed in the natural environment. Data are presented to illustrate the narrow range of behaviors included in task analyses in current literature on skill acquisition. The Component Model of Functional Life Routines provides a systematic alternate approach to delineating the behaviors required in natural environments.

Individuals with the most severe disabilities may be unsuccessful in effecting changes in their environment for various reasons. Because of limitations in cognitive and expressive language skills, their attempts at communicating may be overlooked or misunderstood, or may be knowingly or inadvertently obstructed. Consequently, self-determination is often dependent on our interpretation of what people with the most severe disabilities are communicating. This article explores the implications of making interpretations, the need for such interpretations, and the dangers. Current progress in supporting and promoting self-determination are acknowledged. It is suggested that although these procedures may be intended to increase self-determination, they do not automatically do so. In fact, they may function to limit self-determination. Strategies and methodologies must be critically evaluated to ensure that such efforts reflect the tenets and spirit of self-determination.

"What key issues and challenges affect the lives of people with severe disabilities today -- and what should tomorrow's professionals do to address them? Aligned with the core values and agenda of TASH, this visionary text prepares professionals to strengthen supports and services for people with disabilities across the lifespan. Readers will fully examine more than a dozen critical topics in the lives of people with severe disabilities; explore necessary reforms to policy and practice; and set clear goals and priorities for improving early intervention, education, health care, behavior supports, and social services. Whether used as a textbook or a professional reference, this innovative volume will help usher in a new era of services that support full inclusion and quality of life for people with severe disabilities."--Provided by publisher.

At the 2016 TASH Conference in St. Louis, a research colloquium was held that focused on the state of selected life-span services for people with severe disabilities. Topics addressed by leading experts in the field included inclusion, teaching academic skills, family support, challenging behavior, supported employment, and voting. This article summarizes the information presenters shared at the colloquium. The presenters prepared a short response with a minimum number of citations based on the material they presented, which focused on the description of the practice, extent to which practices are implemented, challenges to implementing the practice, and recommended practices. Although all contributors suggested that much progress has been made, they concurred that there is still much to do in serving people with severe disabilities and their families.

What key issues and challenges affect the lives of people with severe disabilities todayâ€"and what should tomorrow's professionals do to address them? Aligned with the core values and agenda of TASH, this visionary text prepares professionals to strengthen supports and services for people with disabilities across the lifespan. Readers will fully examine more than a dozen critical topics in the lives of people with severe disabilities; explore necessary reforms to policy and practice; and set clear goals and priorities for improving early intervention, education, health care, behavior suppor