A needs assessment of 45 high school students with severe disabilities was conducted to determine their perceived needs regarding independent living skills (ILS). Additionally, the parents ( N = 38) and the teachers ( N = 7) of the students were surveyed to assess the ILS needs they perceived the children as having. Regardless of educational classifications, the students and their parents tended to perceive that the students' greatest need was for development in social and vocational competence. Parents had needs for programming too, especially in the areas of setting goals for their children and using community resources, and teachers indicated that a number of ILS areas were not sufficiently well covered in existing curricula. Implications for transition programs directed by occupational therapists are discussed.

This article is a discussion of the developmental tasks of adolescence, and the additional burden disability places on adolescents as they meet the demand of those tasks. The role of occupational therapy in the provision of services to disabled adolescents is discussed, with recommendations of how to make such provision more congruent with the philosophy of occupational therapy.

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This article is a discussion of the developmental tasks of adolescence, and the additional burden disability places on adolescents as they meet the demand of those tasks. The role of occupational therapy in the provision of services to disabled adolescents is discussed, with recommendations of how to make such provision more congruent with the philosophy of occupational therapy.