This article reports the experiences of one school district as it moved from serving students with severe disabilities in segregated programs to a full inclusion model. Year one focused on getting started, planning, and beginning integration efforts and year two on implementation of a structured peer integration program. Applicability of the full…

These guidelines were developed as part of Maine's statewide project for inclusive schools, Project LEARNS (Local Education for All in Regular Neighborhood Schools). The model proposes that students with severe disabilities be provided with a range of services and supports within regular classes rather than with a continuum of placements. The…

General and specific strategies useful in facilitating an integrated educational environment for children with severe disabilities are presented. Strategies include, among others, identifying and facilitating natural supports, using a participation approach, demonstrating success locally, recruiting collaborators, communicating with all members of…

This review analyzes the impact of the traditional school reform model on students who are "at-risk" and disabled. Several goals of current reform initiatives are felt to be exclusionary, such as specifying national or state goals for student achievement, establishing rigid graduation requirements, and relieving schools from "burdensome…

This paper offers recommendations for establishing meaningful integration opportunities for preschool children with disabilities, derived from the work of the Research Institute on Preschool Mainstreaming, a 5-year federally funded project of St. Peter's Child Development Centers, Inc., in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The knowledge base on preschool…

This report outlines emerging paradigms of service for mentally retarded adults emerging from a nationwide search for innovative programs and practices. It was prompted by the consistent finding of a Pennsylvania longitudinal study that mentally retarded school completers tend to live indefinitely with parents or guardians. The study found the…

This review critically examines various aspects of school-based consultation between regular classroom teachers and teachers of special education. First, current approaches to consultation are described and obstacles to successful integration of elementary students with learning or behavioral problems into mainstream regular education classrooms…

A "social guide" model was used to teach staff of an apartment-based residential program to use a set of "community network strategies" to improve the social relationships of three women with severe or moderate mental retardation. The intervention resulted in increased size of participants' social networks and more frequent social integration…

The social isolation caused by differing cultural backgrounds of minority students on college campuses creates certain "points of tension" that reduce faculty effectiveness and limit student vision. This monograph attempts to provide a greater awareness and understanding of these issues within the context of the role of college unions and student…

Reports on a study of a social theory that has the human-environment relationship at its core. Results indicate the ecological worldview has an independent influence on net environmental knowledge of other sociodemographic characteristics. Suggests the teaching of values as well as facts in environmental curricula. (TW)

This manual on peer counseling in higher education describes the theory and techniques used for this practice. The first chapter, on academic peer counseling, uses V. Tinto's synthesis of the literature to illustrate the theory and stages of peer counseling based on academic and social integration models. The second chapter discusses the qualities…

This study to assess the current situation of Mexican immigrants in California and project future possibilities constructs a demographic profile of the immigrants, examines their economic effects on the state, and describes their socioeconomic integration into California society. Models of immigration/integration processes are developed and used…

This background paper seeks to clarify the concept of transition for students with severe disabilities and to describe New Hampshire's response to the federal school-to-work initiatives. A conceptual framework is presented for linking educational outcomes more closely with improved adult life expectations. The framework seeks to encourage local…

The speech examines mainstreaming of handicapped students in the context of Canadian culture. Integration is seen to be a more appropriate term since it better reflects the pluralism of Canadian society. Basic goals of the Canadian educational system as a whole are identified and recent legislative actions at the provincial and federal level in…

This final report describes: (1) a model designed to help the transition of young children with special needs from early childhood programs into regular kindergarten and other regular education environments; and (2) the impact of TEEM (Transition into the Elementary Education Mainstream) Outreach in disseminating and replicating the model…