Helping Chi ldren at Home and School (Third Edition)
Edited by Andrea Canter, Leslie Paige & Steven Shaw
Guidelines for Handouts Authors
Content:
The handout should include essential and up-to-date information on the topic as appropriate to the intended audience—educators (including administrators), parents, and/or teens. For most topics, this would include background information (including rationale for the importance of the topic); basic facts about development, symptoms, characteristics, etc.; key strategi es for intervention if relevant; and a short list of key and up-to-date resources (both print and online). There should be enough detail to help the reader understand the important concepts, but resources should direct readers to more detailed information.
Length: Handouts should not exceed 1800 words inclusive of resources. Some exceptions might include annotated bibliographies or handouts that include sample forms or essential charts or tables. Many handouts can be considerably shorter. Fact Sheets should be limited to 400-500 words in order to fit a single page. (See separate guidelines for Fact Sheets if you are a fact sheet author!)
Style : Writing style should be accessible—appropriate for the intended audience of non-experts, non-researchers. For Educators, style should be appropriate for beginning teachers. For parents, reading level should be at or below a high school level to the extent feasible for topic. Assume readers may have a high school education or less. For teens, reading level should be approximately 6th grade.
Citations should be omitted from text unless there is a direct reference or quote to a specific source. Graphics should be omitted or minimally used, and if used, should be very simple for easy reproduction. (Simple tables and charts might be appropriate for some handouts.)
Generally APA style should be followed for grammar, bullet/numbered lists, and references/resources including URLs for online resources. See accompanying guide for formatting headings and lists.
Graphics: Drawings, tables, charts, or other illustrative material essential to the handout, together with captions to accompany such material, must be provided in camera-ready electronic format. These materials must be in a TIFF, EPS, or press optimized PDF file. All figures and tables must be in black and white and have a Line-art Resolution of 1200 dpi and a Grayscale Resolution of 300 dpi. No photographs will be accepted.
For titles for Tables and Figures, follow APA Publication Manual:
Figure 1. Title in sentence case followed by a period in bold text.
Table 1. Title in Title Case, No Punctuation, Bold
Resources: All handouts should include at least two resources for more information, and when possible, at least one online resource. These resources must be readily accessible to intended readers—this means for parents that books are in print and could be ordered from Amazon or similar source; articles are in trade journals available on the newsstand or public library or easily located online; for educators this means that books, journals etc are generally available at most libraries, professional websites or commonly available journals from major publishers and organizations. All books should be in print (please verify!), and journal articles should not be more than 5 years old. Websites should be current at the time of submission (these will be verified prior to publication). Do not cite articles only available online—cite websites for general resources only. For books and journals, please provide APA style citation. Because a number of handouts will be translated into Spanish, please consider including at least one resource in Spanish if something relevant is available.
Format: To some degree, the topic and content will dictate the way the handout is organized . However, in general, follow this sequence:
· Background/Rationale (Why is this important?)
· Characteristics (What does it look like, act like, etc? Are there developmental phases or trends?)
· Intervention (What can be done?)
· Resources (More information)
· Author Bio information (brief 1-2 sentence statement of author’s credentials and current work affiliation, including NCSP if relevant). Be sure to include information for all co-authors.
Manuscript: Please submit your handout in electronic format, preferably using Word (MAC or IBM). These must be sent via e-mail attachment; do not put into the body of an e-mail. Please use very simple formatting throughout as needed for headings and clarity. Clearly delineate title, sections and section headings. Do not mix font sizes—everything in 12 point. Please use straight text with no other formatting, other than bullets or numbered lists where appropriate. Do not use headers or footers or page numbers. Use one-inch margins all around, flush left.
Copyright release. Each author will be asked to sign a copyright release form and to return this to the NASP Office. We will bug you incessantly until you send the form!! Basically this gives us permission to use your handout in this and any other NASP publication (such as the Communiqué and website) and to edit as necessary for our purposes, and clarifies that NASP holds the copyright on your handouts.
Deadline for Submission
Please return your first draft to the Editor indicated by the deadline on your cover letter. After review, you may be asked for a revised draft and you will be given another deadline for the revision. You will not be given galleys for final proofing or approval; all handouts will be finalized by the Editors and Copy Editor.
Contact the Editors:
Andrea Canter
W (612) 823-5492 (Central)
cqe
Leslie Paige
H (785)-356-4811 (Central)
Steve Shaw
(514) 398-4913 (Eastern—Quebec)
Be sure to include your name, address, phone and email address on all correspondence.
NASP Styles for Handouts Authors: Headings, Bullets, Lists
Headings
Most handouts will need no more than three levels of headings (levels 1,3,4). Some may need only one (Level 1) or two levels (Levels 1 & 3). NASP levels 1, 2, 3 and 4:
LEVEL 1 HEAD, FLUSH LEFT, BOLD, ALL CAPS, HARD RETURN
OVERVIEW: BASIC FACTS ABOUT AUTISM
Text starts here
Level Two Head, Title Case, Bold, Flush Left, With a Hard Return
Prevalence of Autism
Text starts here….
Level 3 Head, Flush Left, Title Case, Bold Italics, No Hard Return
School-Based Interventions for Students With Autism
Text starts here.
Level 4 head, indented, sentence case, bold italics, followed by a period, with text on the same line.
Strategies to improve social skills. Text starts here….
Bulleted Lists
Be judicious in using bullet blocks or displayed text. Use for emphasis. Where possible, use action verbs to begin each entry. Try to make all the entries parallel. For handouts, bulleted lists are easier to read for lay audience. However, bulleted lists also use more text space. For longer handouts, consider placing lists within straight text, particularly when the text is relatively simple and brief. Be consistent in using punctuation in bulleted lists (see below)
Punctuation: Entries that are not complete sentences do not get punctuation. Entries that are complete sentences get a period.
Examples:
Characteristics of young children with autism include:
· Poor eye contact
· Limited language skills
· Repetitive and stereotypic movements
· Lack of social interest
Strategies for encouraging socialization in young children:
· Arrange play dates with friends or neighbors on a regular basis.
· Find a child care program with flexible scheduling so that your child can begin the experience on a weekly basis.
· Model pretend interactions with dolls or stuffed animals so that your child can observe social give and take.
Lists within a paragraph
Elements in a series within a paragraph should use alpha letters, lower case in parentheses (no italics) such as (a), (b). If there is no internal punctuation in the list, use a comma between each entry. If there is internal punctuation, use a semi-colon between elements.
Ex. The steps of problem solving include (a) define the problem behavior, (b) gather data regarding baseline rate of the behavior, (c) hypothesize strategies to change behavior, (d) select strategy, (e) implement strategy, and (f) evaluate outcome.
Ex. There are three types of adverse reactions to this drug: (a) hives, which appear as an itchy red and bumpy rash; (b) anaphalaxis, which is life threatening and requires immediate medical treatment; and (c) acute headache, which may require medical attention if prolonged.
Series of separate paragraphs
Itemized conclusions or steps in a procedure are listed with an Arabic numeral followed by a period but not enclosed or followed by parentheses.
Ex.
RTI likely leads to the following outcomes:
1. Overall rates of referral to special education decrease. In schools with significant populations from low income and non English speaking groups, the decrease may be more dramatic than among homogeneous populations.
2. Overall achievement levels increase but particularly among students who have performed below average levels in the past. Earlier identification of risk and provision of scientifically proven instructional strategies lead to improved performance for many students across grade levels.
3. Collaboration among specialists and classroom teachers increases. Typically school personnel report greater satisfaction with their interactions with colleagues.
If in doubt, follow the fifth edition of the APA Publications Manual. However, do not dwell on style concerns. That’s why we hire a copy editor!