This article describes the Job Designs Project, a 3-year model demonstration effort that provided vocational services to adolescents and young adults with emotional or behavioral disorders. Vocational trainers offered job placement, training, and support to the participants. Of the 58 participants, 46 (79%) secured competitive work and 17 of the 46 were placed in multiple job placements, resulting in a total of 78 competitive jobs. Of the 78 jobs, 51 (65%) ended successfully (e.g., the worker quit the job appropriately) and 27 (35%) ended unsuccessfully (e.g., termination or the worker quit inappropriately). A total of 17 (37%) workers were fired from jobs and 28 (61%) were fired or quit a job inappropriately. Correlational analyses revealed that four variables were associated with program success or failure: history of alcohol/substance abuse, history of running away from residential placements, use of alcohol/substances while in the program, and social problems with work supervisors and/or co-workers. Surveys of the employers who hired a worker from Job Designs indicated that they were favorably impressed with the project and its staff. Participants interviewed at exit from the program reported that, overall, they were satisfied with their own program experiences. Drawing from these results and experiences, suggestions are made for conducting effective vocational programs for this population and for future research.

Adolescents and young adults (ages 15 to 25) with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) experience difficulties maintaining competitive employment, in large part because of social skills deficits specific to interacting with work supervisors and co-workers in the employment settings. However, only a few studies have sought to identify the types of social interactions and behaviors exhibited by these persons in competitive work placements. This research first described job-related social behaviors for persons with EBD by following the behavioral analytic model and then used this information to develop measures of these skills. This model consisted of four sequential steps: situational analysis (job-related social interactions were identified through structured interviews of workers with EBD, professionals, and employers), generation of alternatives (possible behavioral responses to the interactions were identified by adolescents and young adults with EBD and peers without EBD), response evaluation (professionals evaluated each response alternative's effectiveness in resolving the specific social interaction), and development of the measures (the content from the previous steps was used as the basis for the measures). Two measures were developed: the Scale of Job-related Social Skill Knowledge (SSSK) and the Scale of Job-related Social Skill Performance (SSSP). The SSSK is a structured individual interview in which social interactions are posed to a person with EBD, who then states what he or she would do if involved in such a situation. These responses are recorded and then scored according to guidelines provided in the response evaluation. The SSSP is a rating scale that is completed on individuals by a third-party judge about each individual's social skill performance in work placements. The measures were field-tested and psychometric analyses conducted. Both the SSSK and the SSSP exhibited more than acceptable item and reliability indices and discriminated between groups of persons with and without EBD.

This ex post facto research project examines 9-, 10-, and 11-year old children who were enrolled in programs for the trainable mentally retarded in Oregon and upon whom standardized skill acquisition data were available. In each age group were children who had no, 1, or 2 or more years of preschool experience. Results of students' performance indicated significant differences at ages 9, 10, and 11 in language, academics, self-help, and motor skill performance between those who had 2 or more years of preschool and those who had only 1 year or no preschool. Specific characteristics of preschools were identified that contributed to better skill acquisition scores among the children. No differences could be found in teachers' perceptions of those who had preschool than those who did not. Children's current teachers, however, were highly supportive of preschool experiences for handicapped children. Parents did have different perceptions of their children if they had had preschool experience than if they did not.

This article describes a research effort designed to identify indicators of competencies of teachers of the severely handicapped. Two indicators of competency (amount of instruction time, percentage of curriculum materials task analyzed) were identified as contributing to 78% of the variance for all variables. A training model was described for teaching these competencies to teachers, and subsequent student performance data were reported which demonstrate that the students of teachers trained under this model perform significantly better than students of teachers not trained. The implications of this study for teacher-training institutions are also addressed.

This article focuses on the integration of children with moderate to profound disabilities in a daycare center. The philosophy of the program will be described as well as details of staffing and programming. A sample of data will be shared together with discussions of the implications of this educational approach.