This practicum focused on preventing referral to special education by meeting the needs of kindergarten and first grade children identified with behavioral or academic problems in the mainstream classroom. The practicum emphasized: (1) early identification of potentially dysfunctional children; (2) development of individual education plans…

An experienced kindergarten teacher implemented a 10-week practicum intervention designed to improve the classroom management skills of 9 kindergarten teacher aides. In-service training for participants included planned workshops, observations, team activities, coaching, and evaluation. Each participant concentrated on a specific skill or area of…

A practicum project designed to alleviate behavior and discipline problems at a Florida elementary school through the use of a conflict resolution curriculum that emphasized group interaction is described. The third- and fourth-grade students were asked to work cooperatively on projects that guided them through a series of strategies that taught…

This practicum was designed to address attention deficit and hyperactive behaviors (ADDH) in the elementary classroom setting. The primary goal was to provide teachers with an effective intervention technique which requires little time and addresses the ADDH syndrome. A second aim was to increase teachers' understanding of the ADDH syndrome and…

A 10-week program was developed to provide structure, consistency, and organization in the classrooms of 30 elementary-age emotionally handicapped (EH) students. The program sought to assist the students with staying on task, becoming structured, and reducing inappropriate behavior. The program contained two basic components (a behavioral…

This practicum involved development and implementation of an inservice training workshop on behavior management in the high school setting. Participants were five teachers with students who exhibited challenging behaviors. Prior to the workshop, a needs assessment was conducted which found that the school had a high rate of referral and placement…

This practicum was designed to reduce the frequency of disruption occurring in a class of emotionally disturbed students, aged 6-10. Objectives were to have the students remain on task and attentive to teacher instruction during 80 percent of a morning classroom session and to reduce the need for crisis intervention outside the classroom. Three…

This practicum report describes development, implementation, and evaluation of a program which used an augmentative and alternative communication system with six nonverbal preschool children with developmental disabilities attending a special school. An extensive review of the literature on augmentative and alternative communication systems was…

A behavior modification program was developed and implemented to decrease the tardy behavior of 20 middle school students (ages 13 to 15) in a self-contained dropout prevention class. Student interviews revealed that the students were unable to manage their time, were not motivated to attend class, and did not find class rewarding. The…

This practicum was designed to decrease turnover of newly hired teachers in a child care center by means of a 12-week orientation and training program for newly hired staff. In 1992, nearly half of the newly hired teachers had left the center within 6 months. Surveys of remaining staff, some of whom had already turned in resignations, indicated…

This practicum was designed to establish behavioral and assessment criteria for dealing with seriously emotionally disturbed elementary students enrolled in self-contained emotionally handicapped (EH) units. A primary goal was to provide out-of-field EH teachers with an objective tool for continuously assessing students' individual behavioral and…

This report describes the implementation of a data-based program to reduce unacceptable student behaviors and decrease the number of administrative interventions with 21 students with severe emotional disturbances. A computerized database was developed to track classroom and transportation discipline infractions. Students met monthly to review…