The authors describe what preparations they undertook before introducing self‐determination theory and its corresponding teaching model to the Japanese special education system for students with intellectual disabilities. The Japanese special education services are designed to nurture students to be individuals who are independent, know and exhibit preferences and interests, set and achieve goals, and possess a sense of achievement and self‐awareness. In this respect, the values embedded in the practices of the prevalent Japanese special education teaching model appear to substantially overlap with those of self‐determination. At the same time, Japanese education is designed to value corporate independence, corporate preferences and interests, setting and achieving corporate goals, and corporate sense of achievement and self‐awareness. The authors conclude that by focusing on these similarities when introducing the concepts and strategies underlying self‐determination to Japanese professionals it will help them operationalize what they have done, what they have tried to do, and what they are going to do. Further, by substituting the term “self” determination for “corporate” determination, the functional model of self‐determination and the corresponding teaching model can be applied to theorize or articulate the practices of Japanese special education that have been implemented on the basis of collectivism values.

This descriptive study extends previous studies on communication repairs by (a) involving elementary-age children With autism Who are prelinguistic to emergent one-Word communicators and (b) examining repair strategies in terms of the relationships betWeen the conventionality and functionality of communication forms and the type of breakdoWn. Communication initiations and repairs emitted by three students With autism Were observed in natural settings in Which communication breakdoWns Were intentionally introduced. The students repaired almost all the breakdoWns regardless of type. Furthermore, they repaired communication breakdoWns effectively by adding semantic categories. They Were likely to adjust their repair strategies according to the social meaning of “Without attention.” When they repaired communication breakdoWns by modifications, they Were more likely to use less-conventional forms. The results are discussed in relation to interventions in communication competence.

This study assessed the repair strategies used by verbal students with autism (N = 12) when faced with verbal requests for clarification, gestural requests, not attending and not responding, and wrong responses. Data were collected in request contexts contrived by the communication partner during free play. The results indicated that most of the students repaired more than 80% of the communication breakdowns. In addition, they tended to choose communication forms that reflected the social meaning of the breakdown. However, they were likely to rely on unconventional forms when they faced wrong response breakdowns.

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This study extends previous research by continuing to describe the natural support process. Specifically, we focus on the roles that co-workers and job coaches assume in supporting a worker with a disability. First, we discuss research related to co-worker involvement in work settings and provide a rationale for considering various roles for co-workers and job coaches. Second, we propose a framework for a continuum of six support strategies for co-workers and job coaches and show how prior research supports these strategies. Third, we offer suggestions for selecting an appropriate support strategy in a particular work setting. Finally, we discuss research areas that are still needed to clarify the natural support process. DESCRIPTORS: natural supports, supported employment, co-workers, instructional strategies, culture of work settings Natural supports continues to be an important issue in the supported employment movement. Although there is still debate over whether natural supports is a concept or a strategy (e.g., Butterworth, Hagner, Kiernan, & Shalock, 1996; Mank, 1996; Test & Wood, 1996a), and there is limited research about the effectiveness of its implementation (Test & Wood, 1996a), natural supports seems to be integrally meshed with supported employment services (Mank, 1996; West, Kregel, Hernandez, & Hock, 1997). West et al. (1997) reported that 85.2% of 385 respondents emphasized the use of natural supports in their delivery of supported employment programs. After interviewing key person-This publication was supported under Cooperative Agreement DE-H158M50001 from the