nhance success in community/adult functioning. As the Council on Exceptional Children (CEC) notes, " . . . a continually growing body of literature suggests that an appropriate education for students with special learning needs must be determined in terms of individual needs relative to the functional skills demands of adulthood" (Brolin 41). This instruction should occur in integrated settings, both classroom-based and community-based.
The career education curriculum approach advocated by this book is closely related to the functional skills curriculum model. Career education is a lifelong process that includes four interrelated stages: career awareness, career exploration, career preparation, and career assimilation. A person's career is more than just a job. It includes the various life roles that the person assumes: the role of student, citizen, family member, employee, participant in productive leisure, retiree, etc. The career education approach is particularly important for persons with disabilities because research indicates that over half of adults with disabilities will never become employed (Brolin 59). The career education curriculum model developed by G.M. Clark contains four content elements. The first component is values, attitudes, and habits. The second is human relationships. The third is occupational information. And the fourth is acquisition of job and daily living skills. Clark's model advocates lifelong learning: "The focus of this model . . . is on life-career development beginning at the preschool level and continuing through adulthood" (Brolin 61).
3 The LCCE (Life-Centered Career Education) curriculum focuses on enhancing skills that enable students to become more effective people. This curriculum has evolved over a period of 20 years based on substantial research and practical application in numerous school districts. The curriculum emphasizes outcome-based, functional skills and the ...