An effective inservice program in special education identifies objectives, selects qualified staff, uses effective content delivery, uses the appropriate level of intensity, and evaluates inservice effectiveness. An example of an intensive inservice program that documented student progress illustrates the benefits of implementing a well-planned…

A review of traditional (such as psychotherapy) and behavioral approaches (such as self-monitoring and reinforcement) to obesity treatment of mentally retarded students led to the conclusion that the behavioral orientation was more successful. Implications for initiating such programs include thorough training, voluntary participation, and parent…

It is necessary for those who are developing and/or evaluating software for purchase to carefully consider its educational compatibility, instructional design adequacy, and technical adequacy. Specific factors are examined as they relate to the development and/or evaluation of educational microcomputer software for handicapped learners. (Author)

The consultant interested in helping teachers adopt curriculum-based assessment techniques should consider the process of innovation along with aspects of school culture. The consultant should examine four stages in developing a model program: creating a need, supporting change, implementing a guided practice, sequence, and allowing for…

Included is a framework for determining if a young severely language delayed child is an appropriate candidate for sign programs; a discussion of specific sign objectives; and guidelines for classroom implementation and family intervention. (Author)

The article discusses conceptual principles which underpin development of consultation-based programing for students with mild disabilities, proposes informal standards for ecological evaluation of specific formats, and identifies factors (such as administrative support and participatory planning and decision making) that maximize the potential…

The Teaching Research Transition Planning Project (Oregon) is implementing and evaluating the development of school/community teams to facilitate transition of handicapped students into the community. Preliminary evaluation results support the value of an outside stimulus to encourage collaboration, locally generated plans, and policy decision…

Research-based recommendations for an effective writing instruction program for exceptional students include, among others, allocate a sufficient amount of instruction time; expose students to a broad range of writing tasks; integrate writing with other academic subjects; develop the processes of planning, sentence generation, and revising; and…