This study investigated the effectiveness of a general education/special education collaborative teaming process on the academic and social participation of six students in general education classrooms. Three of the students experienced severe disabilities. The other three were considered academically at risk. Each student was supported by an educational team that included general and special education personnel and the students' parents. Each team developed and collaboratively implemented individualized Unified Plans of Support for one student at risk and a classmate with disabilities, consisting of academic adaptations and communication and social supports. The effectiveness of the support plans was evaluated through behavioral observations and team interviews. Intervention outcomes suggested that for each of the six students consistent implementation of the plans of support by team members was associated with increases in academic skills, engagement in classroom activities, interactions with peers, and student-initiated interactions.

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Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) service providers are increasingly serving a significant number of clients from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. In this paper, we discuss general considerations and future research needs relevant to the use of AAC strategies and techniques with bilingual children, specifically, issues related to the scaffolding of communication and language development in more than one language, and the selection and customization of AAC systems for bilingual children. We do so by first reviewing key research on bilingualism with children with communication disabilities and its implications for research and practice in the AAC field. We propose the use of a sociocultural approach to AAC service delivery and argue for the support of both languages needed by the child to fully participate in his or her communicative environments. Implications of the sociocultural perspective and future research needs are also presented.

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R esearchers in 2 studies investigated the effectiveness of a general education/special education collaborative teaming process in increasing the engagement, development, and learning of preschoolers with severe disabilities who were placed in general education early childhood programs that operated under a team-teaching model. The process included monthly team meetings to develop educational and social supports for targeted preschoolers, which were then collaboratively implemented by the educational team members. Study 1 focused on 3 teams composed of early childhood and special education teachers, instructional assistants, speech-language therapists, and parents who supported a child with significant disabilities attending one of the 3 participating preschools. Study 2 extended the collaborative teaming model to include all preschoolers with disabilities attending one of the preschool programs from the first study who required intensive levels of support (4 children). The effectiveness of the collaborative development and implementation of support plans-and the extent to which the collaborative teaming process was judged to be natural to the existing classroom culture and useful in producing positive child outcomes-was evaluated in both studies.

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