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This paper describes a federally funded, 5-year (1989 to 1994) personnel preparation program for unendorsed teachers of students with severe disabilities in Virginia. The program involved a cooperative union of training and technical assistance from 3 state universities and the Virginia State Department of Education. The program was designed to be inexpensive to participating teachers and minimize their travel, to allow supervised application of content schools, and to meet state endorsement requirements for severe disabilities. Teachers were selected for their demonstrated teaching talents and their predicted job stability. The 61 teachers who completed the program participated in 1 of 3 repeated training cycles. This article presents evaluation findings on the training program and explores other solutions to personnel shortages in low incidence disability areas in most state.

This study examines the effects of neurophysiological facilitation procedures on eating skills in four severe ly handicapped children. A reversal design is used to measure the effects of exteroceptive and propriocep tive stimulation on lip closure, rotary chewing, and spilling of food and drink from the mouth. Some im provements in eating skills were found in each student when facilitation procedures were administered.

As major changes in vocational habilitation strategies are being proposed by the experts in the field of employment services for disabled persons, the attitudes of parents toward the working conditions of their sons and daughters who are mentally retarded warrant careful attention. A mail survey was conducted from a representative sample of 660 parents/guardians whose adult sons/daughters were receiving mental retardation services in the State of Virginia. From demographic and attitudinal information surveyed, a series of one-way ANOVAS showed that parent attitudes toward vocational services for their child were not influenced by age or sex of the adult child or the educational or occupational status of the parent. An analysis of covariance was conducted employing the IQ level of the child and satisfaction with current program placement as the covariate. IQ level showed highly significant effects on parental attitudes even when satisfaction with current program was controlled in this way. Parents and guardians in this sample expressed low interest in specific improvements in working conditions, especially increased wages for their sons/daughters who are mentally retarded. They indicated satisfaction with the current program placements for their adult children. Although most parents/guardians indicated a positive attitude toward work in general for the adult children, only 12% indicated a preference for competitive employment for their adult sons/daughters who are currently consumers of retardation services.