Effective Microcomputer Assisted Instruction for the Vocational Education of Special Needs Students.

This manual has been designed to help teachers use microcomputers in the education of handicapped and disadvantaged students. Microcomputer programs listed in section 1 of the manual have been used successfully by practitioners in the instruction of special needs students. Some of the programs were developed by commercial publishers and others are the results of the efforts of individual teachers seeking to improve instruction with the assistance of microcomputers. For each program listed, the following information is provided: the make and model of computer on which it is used, the price, the developer of the program, the contact person, the vocational areas of instruction for which the program was developed, the particular disability for which the program was designed, the instructional format of the program, a description of the program, and information on adapting the program to special populations. A cross-reference section lists microcomputer programs by the computer for which they are designed, and an index lists the programs in alphabetical order. Articles in section 2 of the manual provide ideas on the educational uses of microcomputers. Authors discuss how they use microcomputers in resource rooms and centers, occupational information centers, linkage projects, education exchanges, and computer-related vocational education for disadvantaged students. A software evaluation process using students to try out a given program is described, and a vocational-technical school software-evaluation form is provided. (KC)