The oaper presents a protocol developed by the Child-Centered Inservice Training Project (Syracus... more The oaper presents a protocol developed by the Child-Centered Inservice Training Project (Syracuse, New York) to provide inservice training and technical assistance for personinl working with children with severe disabilities in regular schools. The following topics are covered in outline format: (1) selection of target students; (2) the technical assistance agreement; (3) training activities; (4) baseline data on target behavior; (5) functional analysis; (6) joint development of a written intervention plan; (7) activities of the intervention Phase; and (8) evaluation activities and responsibilities. The major portion of the document consists of the forms used in the project including: inservice training agreement, a parent information letter, student participation permission, consultant visit and teacher interview, student schedule, scatter plot sheet, daily log, incident record, intervention plan, consultc-mt meeting form, skill acquisition and excess behavior form, target student profile, target student evaluation report, and program quality indicators. Includes three references. (DB)
The subjective judgments of "significant others" toward employment training for persons with very... more The subjective judgments of "significant others" toward employment training for persons with very severe disabilities were investigated. Six respondent groups (n = 188) rated videotape samples of employment training of 4 students with mild to profound disabilities. Respondent ratings were analyzed for group by student disability level effects. Results indicated that all respondent groups had more positive evaluations of those students with mild versus severe to profound disabilities, although mean ratings at all levels of disability tended to be positive. A sizable percentage of the total sample expressed positive judgments of employment for even students with the most severe disabilities.
The Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, Sep 1, 1990
Students with severe disabilities who also exhibit serious behavior problems are a significant ch... more Students with severe disabilities who also exhibit serious behavior problems are a significant challenge to the provision of integrated educational services in neigh borhood public schools. This report summarizes the components of a consultation model that utilizes locally available resources and expertise to support integrated school placements, along with specific efforts to reme diate individual student needs. Follow-up placement information is presented for target students receiving project services during the 1986 to 1989 school years, including a description of both successful and unsuc cessful outcomes. Procedures and results are discussed in the context of the needfor consultation and additional support services for the school and home to help local education agencies achieve a zero reject model of serv ices for students with challenging behaviors.
The decision to maintain a severely mentally retarded child in the home or seek out-of-home place... more The decision to maintain a severely mentally retarded child in the home or seek out-of-home placement is regarded as one aspect of family adaptation. As such, the decision is affected by numerous child-related stressors, preexistent family resources, and new sources of support. In the current study, parents with severely mentally retarded children still living at home were surveyed with regard to these variables and their plans for future child placement. Multiple regression analyses revealed that child-related stressors were negatively related to parents' plans for keeping the child at home until age 21 and positively related to plans for placing the child outside the home before age 21. Families with high levels of internal resources were more apt to report plans for keeping the child at home indefinitely. Degree of external resource use was related to plans to maintain the child at home until age 21, over-and-above both child-related stressors and family resources. Specific kinds of external resources were examined and ranked ordered with regard to their usefulness to parents in maintaining their child in the home.
New Zealand universities have undergone significant structural change accompanied by declining pu... more New Zealand universities have undergone significant structural change accompanied by declining public funding and increasing demands for accountability in recent years. In 2000, one of the country’s largest universities redirected resources and funding in a ‘repositioning’ exercise that resulted in redundancies and other consequences affecting staff. Legal action led to an out‐of‐court settlement to review academic policy making, the first such review in the country. This case study of institutional change to constitutional structures and decision processes illustrates ongoing tensions between conventional academic processes of collegial participation in governance versus managerial approaches influenced by business sector models. Implementation of agreed change was slow, and accompanied by signs of persistent and deep divisions in philosophy regarding the purpose and nature of the university. Nevertheless, preliminary evidence suggests limited but successful outcomes that promise both shared academic governance as well as effective management. Relevant theory and research on collegial and academic decision making offer some validation for the longer timelines that occurred, as well as support for the value of problem‐solving alternative models of academic policy making in a modern university.
In addition to physical placement in the community, the extent to which individuals experience pe... more In addition to physical placement in the community, the extent to which individuals experience personal autonomy may provide a crucial measure of the attainment of a more normalized lifestyle. Everyday choices and choice-making opportunities of 24 persons with mental retardation living in community group homes were compared to choices of 42 nonretarded adults. The adults with mental retardation had significantly fewer opportunities to make decisions on such matters as what to eat or wear, how to spend free time, and with whom to live. Results were discussed in terms of the need to operationalize meaningful improvements in the lives of persons with mental retardation that go beyond the appearance of the physical environment.
Regular-education children in Grades 4 through 6 participated in structured social interactions w... more Regular-education children in Grades 4 through 6 participated in structured social interactions with severely handicapped children, and an attitude survey was administered to measure the effects of the intensive contact upon them and their classroom peer group. Results over two semesters of the program revealed significantly higher acceptance of individual differences on three attitudinal dimensions by children at an experimental school (n = 241) in comparison to children from schools where no severely handicapped children were enrolled (n = 288) and schools with severely handicapped children enrolled but without the interaction program (n = 288). Results support the development of personalized, peer-interaction interventions to facilitate social acceptance of child variance in integrated school settings.
As services for severely handicapped children become increasingly available within neighborhood p... more As services for severely handicapped children become increasingly available within neighborhood public schools, children's attitudes toward handicapped peers in integrated settings warrant attention. Factor analysis of attitude survey responses of 2,392 children revealed four factors underlying attitudes toward handicapped peers: social-contact willingness, deviance consequation, and two actual contact dimensions. Upper elementary-age children, girls, and children in schools with most contact with severely handicapped peers expressed the most accepting attitudes. Results of this study suggest the modifiability of children's attitudes and the need to develop interventions to facilitate social acceptance of individual differences in integrated school settings.
The Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, Jun 1, 2001
This study describes a social validation of appropriate roles and responsibilities for teaching a... more This study describes a social validation of appropriate roles and responsibilities for teaching assistants (TAs) in inclusive classrooms. A self-report survey was rated by a sample of general education teachers, special education teachers, and TAs employed in urban and rural inclusive programs. Test-retest reliability of the survey was established for the TA sample. A factor analysis of all ratings suggested five major role components: (a) instructional; (b) school support; (c) liaison; (d) personal support; and (e) one-to-one in-class support. Statistically significant differences between mean group ratings indicate a lack of clarity regarding the appropriateness of these role components for TAs. We discuss how school districts might utilize our list to clarify TA job descriptions and shared understandings regarding roles and responsibilities among educational team members.
The oaper presents a protocol developed by the Child-Centered Inservice Training Project (Syracus... more The oaper presents a protocol developed by the Child-Centered Inservice Training Project (Syracuse, New York) to provide inservice training and technical assistance for personinl working with children with severe disabilities in regular schools. The following topics are covered in outline format: (1) selection of target students; (2) the technical assistance agreement; (3) training activities; (4) baseline data on target behavior; (5) functional analysis; (6) joint development of a written intervention plan; (7) activities of the intervention Phase; and (8) evaluation activities and responsibilities. The major portion of the document consists of the forms used in the project including: inservice training agreement, a parent information letter, student participation permission, consultant visit and teacher interview, student schedule, scatter plot sheet, daily log, incident record, intervention plan, consultc-mt meeting form, skill acquisition and excess behavior form, target student profile, target student evaluation report, and program quality indicators. Includes three references. (DB)
The subjective judgments of "significant others" toward employment training for persons with very... more The subjective judgments of "significant others" toward employment training for persons with very severe disabilities were investigated. Six respondent groups (n = 188) rated videotape samples of employment training of 4 students with mild to profound disabilities. Respondent ratings were analyzed for group by student disability level effects. Results indicated that all respondent groups had more positive evaluations of those students with mild versus severe to profound disabilities, although mean ratings at all levels of disability tended to be positive. A sizable percentage of the total sample expressed positive judgments of employment for even students with the most severe disabilities.
The Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, Sep 1, 1990
Students with severe disabilities who also exhibit serious behavior problems are a significant ch... more Students with severe disabilities who also exhibit serious behavior problems are a significant challenge to the provision of integrated educational services in neigh borhood public schools. This report summarizes the components of a consultation model that utilizes locally available resources and expertise to support integrated school placements, along with specific efforts to reme diate individual student needs. Follow-up placement information is presented for target students receiving project services during the 1986 to 1989 school years, including a description of both successful and unsuc cessful outcomes. Procedures and results are discussed in the context of the needfor consultation and additional support services for the school and home to help local education agencies achieve a zero reject model of serv ices for students with challenging behaviors.
The decision to maintain a severely mentally retarded child in the home or seek out-of-home place... more The decision to maintain a severely mentally retarded child in the home or seek out-of-home placement is regarded as one aspect of family adaptation. As such, the decision is affected by numerous child-related stressors, preexistent family resources, and new sources of support. In the current study, parents with severely mentally retarded children still living at home were surveyed with regard to these variables and their plans for future child placement. Multiple regression analyses revealed that child-related stressors were negatively related to parents' plans for keeping the child at home until age 21 and positively related to plans for placing the child outside the home before age 21. Families with high levels of internal resources were more apt to report plans for keeping the child at home indefinitely. Degree of external resource use was related to plans to maintain the child at home until age 21, over-and-above both child-related stressors and family resources. Specific kinds of external resources were examined and ranked ordered with regard to their usefulness to parents in maintaining their child in the home.
New Zealand universities have undergone significant structural change accompanied by declining pu... more New Zealand universities have undergone significant structural change accompanied by declining public funding and increasing demands for accountability in recent years. In 2000, one of the country’s largest universities redirected resources and funding in a ‘repositioning’ exercise that resulted in redundancies and other consequences affecting staff. Legal action led to an out‐of‐court settlement to review academic policy making, the first such review in the country. This case study of institutional change to constitutional structures and decision processes illustrates ongoing tensions between conventional academic processes of collegial participation in governance versus managerial approaches influenced by business sector models. Implementation of agreed change was slow, and accompanied by signs of persistent and deep divisions in philosophy regarding the purpose and nature of the university. Nevertheless, preliminary evidence suggests limited but successful outcomes that promise both shared academic governance as well as effective management. Relevant theory and research on collegial and academic decision making offer some validation for the longer timelines that occurred, as well as support for the value of problem‐solving alternative models of academic policy making in a modern university.
In addition to physical placement in the community, the extent to which individuals experience pe... more In addition to physical placement in the community, the extent to which individuals experience personal autonomy may provide a crucial measure of the attainment of a more normalized lifestyle. Everyday choices and choice-making opportunities of 24 persons with mental retardation living in community group homes were compared to choices of 42 nonretarded adults. The adults with mental retardation had significantly fewer opportunities to make decisions on such matters as what to eat or wear, how to spend free time, and with whom to live. Results were discussed in terms of the need to operationalize meaningful improvements in the lives of persons with mental retardation that go beyond the appearance of the physical environment.
Regular-education children in Grades 4 through 6 participated in structured social interactions w... more Regular-education children in Grades 4 through 6 participated in structured social interactions with severely handicapped children, and an attitude survey was administered to measure the effects of the intensive contact upon them and their classroom peer group. Results over two semesters of the program revealed significantly higher acceptance of individual differences on three attitudinal dimensions by children at an experimental school (n = 241) in comparison to children from schools where no severely handicapped children were enrolled (n = 288) and schools with severely handicapped children enrolled but without the interaction program (n = 288). Results support the development of personalized, peer-interaction interventions to facilitate social acceptance of child variance in integrated school settings.
As services for severely handicapped children become increasingly available within neighborhood p... more As services for severely handicapped children become increasingly available within neighborhood public schools, children's attitudes toward handicapped peers in integrated settings warrant attention. Factor analysis of attitude survey responses of 2,392 children revealed four factors underlying attitudes toward handicapped peers: social-contact willingness, deviance consequation, and two actual contact dimensions. Upper elementary-age children, girls, and children in schools with most contact with severely handicapped peers expressed the most accepting attitudes. Results of this study suggest the modifiability of children's attitudes and the need to develop interventions to facilitate social acceptance of individual differences in integrated school settings.
The Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, Jun 1, 2001
This study describes a social validation of appropriate roles and responsibilities for teaching a... more This study describes a social validation of appropriate roles and responsibilities for teaching assistants (TAs) in inclusive classrooms. A self-report survey was rated by a sample of general education teachers, special education teachers, and TAs employed in urban and rural inclusive programs. Test-retest reliability of the survey was established for the TA sample. A factor analysis of all ratings suggested five major role components: (a) instructional; (b) school support; (c) liaison; (d) personal support; and (e) one-to-one in-class support. Statistically significant differences between mean group ratings indicate a lack of clarity regarding the appropriateness of these role components for TAs. We discuss how school districts might utilize our list to clarify TA job descriptions and shared understandings regarding roles and responsibilities among educational team members.
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Papers by Luanna Meyer