A practical and straightforward peer buddy program that promotes inclusion, encourages development of social relationships, and improves academic achievement of students with and without disabilities.

This book provides a complete, step-by-step guide to practitioners and administrators for establishing service-learning peer buddy programs in secondary school settings. The book presents: (a) a rationale for using service-learning peer buddy programs to promote inclusion; (b) benefits to participants (e.g., school administration, teachers, students, parents); (c) recommended strategies for establishing and implementing programs in inclusive, extracurricular, and community-based settings; and (d) strategies for evaluating and sustaining programs long-term.

"Peer supports really work: They help all students learn, make the most of teacher and paraprofessional time, and foster important social connections among students. This is the concise, practical guide every middle and high school needs to implement peer support strategies - including cooperative learning and peer tutoring - to benefit students with moderate to severe disabilities and their peers." "Filled with photocopiable planning, implementation, and evaluation tools, this must-have guide will help educators and paraprofessionals create schools where all students - with and without disabilities - achieve academic and social success."--BOOK JACKET.

Over the last decade, the educational context for students with disabilities has significantly changed primarily as a result of mandates contained in NCLB and IDEA. The purpose of this book is to summarize the research literature regarding how students might be provided classrooms and schools that are both inclusive and effective. Inclusive schools are defined as places where students with disabilities are valued and active participants in academic and social activities and are given supports that help them succeed. Effectiveness is addressed within the current movement toward multi-tiered systems of support and evidence-based practices that meet the demands of high-stakes accountability.

The Handbook of Research-Based Practices for Educating Students with Intellectual Disability provides an integrated, transdisciplinary overview of research-based practices for teaching students with intellectual disability. This comprehensive volume emphasizes education across life stages, from early intervention in schools through the transition to adulthood, and highlights major educational and support needs of children and youth with intellectual disability. The implications of history, recent research, and existing information are positioned to systematically advance new practices and explore promising possibilities in the field. Driven by the collaboration of accomplished, nationally recognized professionals of varied approaches and philosophies, the book emphasizes practices that have been shown to be effective through multiple methodologies, so as to help readers select interventions based on the evidence of their effectiveness.

This thoroughly updated Second Edition of the Handbook of Youth Mentoring presents the only comprehensive synthesis of current theory, research, and practice in the field of youth mentoring. Editors David L. DuBois and Michael J. Karcher gather leading experts in the field to offer critical and informative analyses of the full spectrum of topics that are essential to advancing our understanding of the principles for effective mentoring of young people. This volume includes twenty new chapter topics and eighteen completely revised chapters based on the latest research on these topics. Each chapter has been reviewed by leading practitioners, making this handbook the strongest bridge between research and practice available in the field of youth mentoring.

An update to Social Skills for School and Community, this timely new edition places a greater focus on teaching social skills in inclusive settings by creating learning opportunities in general education environments. The book contains 50 strategies for individual and small group instruction with follow-up strategies for facilitating maintenance and generalization. The strategies and lessons included in this manual are designed to address the needs of students who fall into the mild and moderate end of the spectrum of students with ASD and other developmental disabilities. The strategies encompassed in teaching students with ASD have wide-ranging value in addressing the social skills needs of students with other disabilities and those who are at-risk. The book contains an accompanying CD containing printable copies of assessment and evaluation checklists, homework forms, comic strips, photographs, and story sequences for teaching and reinforcing social skills. Additional resources include expression pictures and a file related to data collection and progress monitoring.