Evaluating Materials for Handicapped Adolescents

Selecting the most appropriate educational materials for young children with learning disabilities requires a great deal of time and expertise. Perhaps, it is even more difficult to choose materials for handicapped adolescents because so few suitable guidelines and criteria for selecting appropriate materials at this age level exist. A record factor is that little or no research is available on the effectiveness of specific materials for the young adult group. To assist teachers in choosing materials for their handicapped adolescent students, we propose a comprehensive evaluation method which consists of two phases: (a) "static" and (b) "dynamic." The purpose of a static evaluation is to obtain information that will be used to decide which of several programs or materials to purchase and/or implement. The results of dynamic evaluation are useful in deciding whether a material that currently is being used should be altered or discontinued. These two phases of total evaluation are discussed more fully in the following sections of this article.