Barbara Wilcox

A Rationale for Comprehensive Longitudinal Interactions between Severely Handicapped Students and Nonhandicapped Students and other Citizens

If severely handicapped people are to function as independently and productively as possible in a variety of least restrictive postschool community environments, they must have comprehensive and longitudinal interactions with nonhandicapped persons during the educational years, In this paper some arguments in favor of interaction with nonhandicapped persons and some of the arguments in favor of the segregation of severely handicapped persons are delineated and briefly discussed in a point/counterpoint format. The authors strongly support comprehensive and longitudinal interactions between severely handicapped and nonhandicapped persons.

Do We Know Enough to Plan for Transition? A National Survey of State Agencies Responsible for Services to Persons wtih Severe Handicaps

Transition of students with severe handicaps from school to community life has become a principle concern of parents, advocates, and professionals. The failure of students with disabilities to access appropriate vocational and residential services following school has highlighted the need for comprehensive transition planning at both an individual and systems level. Through interviews with state administrators of educational, vocational, and residential services, this study attempted to define the scope of the postschool service needs of individuals exiting public school programs on a national level. The results of the survey are discussed in terms of the implications for state agencies in effectively planning the transition of students with severe handicaps from school to postschool services.

Quality and Equality in Employment Services for Adults with Severe Disabilities.

This paper responds to Brown et al. (1984), who propose an extended training program involving work without pay in integrated settings for adults with severe intellectual handicaps. While agreeing about the capability of persons with disabilities, the importance of integration, and the failings of typical services, we believe that their extended training proposal represents an unnecessary retreat from values that have guided development of exemplary school and community services for persons with severe handicaps. As an extended outcome of services, the proposed program needlessly sacrifices wages and other employment benefits, distorts the benefits of integration by looking only at the workplace, and tolerates unequal treatment of citizens with severe handicaps. Relying on unpaid work as a strategy for time-limited employment preparation creates the risk of overuse and of perpetual readiness programming, suggesting that professional effort could be better spent in development of supported employment opportunities. Current federally supported employment initiatives provide a framework for combining wages and integration and offer support for local program development.

Transition Issues Facing Youth with Severe Disabilities: Parents' Perspective

At a time when the transition from school to work and community life for students with handicaps has become a major national concern, the need for information to help guide transition planning is acute. Parents of youth with handicaps are an important and frequently overlooked data source in transition planning. The present study surveyed parents of high school students with severe handicaps throughout Oregon. Parents were asked to project the service needs of their son/daughter at graduation, 5 years after graduation, and 10 years after graduation. They were also asked to rank the features of adult service programs that they desire for their children, and to describe the source of their own information about post-school opportunities and services for their sons and daughters. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for planning and developing appropriate post-school services for students with severe handicaps.

Programming for Apartment Living: A Description and Rationale of an Independent Living Skills Inventory.

An independent living skills inventory and its application are described in detail. The inventory was designed to assist in the transition from a dependent living environment to a more independent environment. It covers four major areas: selecting an independent living situation, setting up an independent living situation, surviving in an independent living situation, and a training model to implement training in any of those areas. The inventory was designed with a skill emphasis, essentially what skills are necessary and what steps must be followed for an individual to successfully move from one setting to another and survive in the new setting. A system of prioritizing adult skills for training is also suggested. The inventory is an attempt to identify those adult functioning skills necessary for independent living. It follows Belmore and Browns (1976) Job Skill Inventory as an initial model with an emphasis on apartment living rather than vocational skills.