Concerns raised by the regular education initiative of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services include: the possible elimination of services to learning disabled students, the greater potential for school failure and its relatively greater damage than the "learning disability" label, and the inappropriateness of the…

Disabled Student Services Director, Alfred H. DeGraff, tells how Boston University's programs and facilities are providing independence for disabled persons. (MLF)

The paper defines the Regular Education Initiative (REI) and outlines its fundamental assumptions. The paper then discusses the responses of three organizations to the assumptions, as delineated in the joint policy statement of the National Education Association, the Council for Exceptional Children, and the American Association of School…

A case study is presented of an elementary school preparing to implement a full-time mainstreaming program for students with learning disabilities. Based on observations, interviews, and surveys of students, parents, and teachers, it is concluded that fundamental changes in instruction are necessary for the regular education initiative to work.…

The study examined how adding students with learning disabilities (LD) to regular education classrooms changed the behavior of nonhandicapped students and their teachers. Initial observations were of mainstream classes containing no learning-disabled students. Observations were again conducted after LD students had been mainstreamed for 8 months.…

An elementary school principal and mother of a son with learning disabilities (LD) offers a personal perspective on educational trends such as resource rooms, content mastery, and inclusion. The paper argues that regular classroom teachers are not trained to teach LD students and that adequate support for mainstreamed LD students would be…

A high school pilot program is described in which 10 special education staff members provided services to 33 regular educators and 83 learning handicapped students in regular classrooms. Implications for defining the structure and service delivery of an effective program and the teacher competencies needed for successful implementation are…

This final report focused on research questions associated with reducing the segregation of students with learning disabilities (LD) in Virginia. A survey of special education supervisors, general education supervisors, building principals, general elementary and secondary education teachers, LD teachers, students with LD, and parents was…