People with multiple and/or severe disabilities are those who traditionally have been labeled as having severe mental retardation. These individuals require ongoing, extensive support in more than one major life activity in order to participate in integrated community settings. Although there may be a primary disability area (e.g., mental retardation), individuals may also exhibit characteristics of individuals in other categories, such as visual, hearing, and/or physical impairments, movement difficulties, sensory losses and behavior problems. The following resources will help you explore this topic.

Books Published by Houghton Mifflin Company

• Hunt, N., & Marshall, K. (1999). Exceptional Children and Youth (2^nd ed.). New York: Houghton Mifflin Company - Chapter 11.
• Kirk, S.A., Gallagher, J.J. & Anastasiow, N.J. (2000). Educating Exceptional Children (9^th ed.). New York: Houghton Mifflin Company - Chapter 11.

Books Published by Other Companies

• Cipani, E. C., & Spooner, F. (Eds.) (1994). Curricular and instructional approaches for persons with severe disabilities. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
• Heller, K. W., Alberto, P. A., Forney. P. E., & Schwartzman, M. N. (1996). Understanding physical, sensory, & health impairments. Pacific Grove, CA Brooks/Cole.
• Orelove, F. P., & Sobsey, D. (1996). Educating children with multiple disabilities: A transdisciplinary approach. Paul H. Brookes.
• Rainforth, B., & York-Barr, J. (1997). Collaborative teams for students with severe disabilities (2^nd ed.). Baltimore, MD: Brookes.
• Snell, M. E., & Brown, F. (2000). Instruction of students with severe disabilities (5^th ed.). Columbus, OH: Merrill.
• Snell, M. E., & Brown, F. (Eds.) (2000). Instruction of students with severe disabilities (5^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.
• Sternberg, L. (Ed.) (1994). Individuals with profound disabilities: instructional and assistive strategies (3^rd ed.). Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
• Westling, D. L., & Fox, L. (2000). Teaching persons with severe disabilities (2^nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Journals

• Career Development for Exceptional Individuals (CEC)
• Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps (JASH)
• Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation
• Research in Developmental Disabilities

Fact Sheets

• General information about severe and/or multiple disabilities -- http://www.kidsource.com/NICHCY/severe_disable.html

Web site Resources

• TASH -- http://www.tash.org
• The Arc -- http://thearc.org/welcome.html
• The Federal Resource Center for Special Education (multiple disabilities) -- http://www.dssc.org/frc/index.htm

Popular Movies

• The Miracle Worker (1962). United Artists

Online Resource Documents

• Severe Disabilities -- http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed371507.html