serve children with disabilities in natural environments and to provide a full range of comprehensive services for low income families. This study was a qualitative inquiry in five states and six local communities to learn how state and local administrators, direct care providers, and parents perceive the process of service integration in Part C and EHS. Through open-ended interviews, respondents shared perceptions of collaboration between the two programs at referral and intake, evaluation and individualized planning, service delivery, and transition out of the programs. Researchers sorted narrative material into categories through both thematic analysis and computerized software. Respondents perceive effective service integration to include administrative structures (e.g., interagency agreements, personnel policies), and interpersonal relationships among the direct providers and families involved. Parents emphasized structural factors such as a stable staff with minimal turnover, and interpersonal factors such as a comfortable and harmonious atmosphere among themselves and staff from the two programs. Staff stressed informal and open channels of communication, as well as clear and understandable procedures. Administrators highlighted joint trainings, policies coordinating schedules for evaluation and planning, and mutual respect for each other's programs. Research, policy, and practice implications of the identified factors are discussed.

Researchers have long sought to identify teaching acts that have a predictable effect on learner performance. The contingent use of teacher praise is well documented for its positive influence on the social behavior of handicapped youngsters. However, results of the present study indicate that teachers of the mentally retarded, multihandicapped and learning disabled and/or behavior disordered make limited use of praise over criticism in managing classroom behavior. Even though the technology exists for training selected teacher competencies, e.g., use of contingent praise, it would appear that problems remain in connection with maintaining these skills in applied settings.

This study was a formative evaluation of a peer tutoring package. The purpose was to investigate the effects of a peer tutoring package on the instructional performance of behaviorally disordered adolescents, directly trained by their teachers, and subsequent effects on the performance of their learners. Generative effects of the peer tutoring procedures were observed in successive peer tutor-learner dyads not directly trained by teachers. This study used an across subject multiple baseline design to study peer instructional behavior during daily training sessions and concomitant learner spelling performance. Results showed that learner performance on daily spelling tests increased considerably when intervention in the form of peer instruction occurred. Peer use of the instructional strategy varied greatly but all peer tutors consistently used the recordkeeping and graphing strategies as presented in the peer teaching package.

This investigation examines the effects of a social skills training program using self-instructions in facili tating the acquisition and generalization of two social behaviors in a work setting. Specifically, this study examined the effects of the training package in increas ing the percentages of initiations with a supervisor when employees ran out of work materials and/or needed assistance. The results indicated that the training effec tively increased the percentages of occurrence in one or both of the target behaviors for all 5 participants. Fur thermore, the training resulted in generalized respond ing across settings for all participants and maintained for up to 13 weeks. These results suggest the feasibility of a social skills training package using self-instructions to help persons with moderate and severe handicaps acquire, maintain, and generalize social behaviors in a work setting.Increased interest in preparing persons with moderate and severe handicaps for employment has focused re search efforts on the skills needed for successful em ployment

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