A model of the way experts are now helping handicapped children in schools is criticized. The model is set within limits, such as: (1) do not regard a multifactored assessment as a miraculous device; (2) do not reject research; and, (3) do not resist working along with experts. (Author/GK)

This paper presents a model for the preparation of Quebec teachers of special needs children across disability categories. The proposed model emphasizes collaborative consultation among regular and special educators, collaboration with parents, individualized intervention plans, and teaching of learning strategies. The paper recommends that a…

Discusses the development of Conductive Education (CE) in the United Kingdom in the context of social models of disability. It argues that CE can provide the basis for an educational model of disability in which disability is seen to result from a complex interaction between the environment and the individual. The model is seen as particularly…

This paper proposes that research on a constructivist approach for students with disabilities should emphasize specific instructional and assessment practices, as opposed to broad educational ideologies. The value of a particular instructional or assessment practice (such as constructivism) is probably dependent upon context and learner…

Basic values and beliefs of British education for students with special needs are addressed in terms of "3 R's", i.e., Rights for learners, Responsive pedagogy, and Research for special needs education. Models for addressing these three aspects of special education are offered. (DB)

An itinerant special education teacher talks about her changing role in the development of social skills in young children with disabilities. A continuum of social skills interventions is explained and the importance of matching types of interventions to children and settings is stressed. The special challenges of the itinerant teacher role are…

Discussions with exemplary Colorado general and special education coteachers led to development of three metaphors for the coteaching process: (1) yin and yang (the uniqueness and unity of the two teachers); (2) the dance (the rhythm, fluidity, and automaticity of effective collaboration); and (3) the particle and the stream (the thriving of…

This paper reviews the recent history of psychoeducational testing, examines attempts to link assessment with instruction within the information processing domain, and presents a model of a general assessment-instruction procedure that classroom and specialist teachers could use in effective remediation and instruction practices. (JDD)

This paper argues for a paradigmatic shift away from individualistic models of development and learning in early childhood special education to a social constructivist model. Principles for inclusive early childhood practice are explicated, based on classrooms as communities, learning as socially mediated, curriculum as contextually relevant and…

This article presents the goals, philosophy, and theory of the Direct Instruction model. The theory stresses the learning of generalizations with multiple examples through a highly structured curriculum. Connections between theory and practice are illustrated with a variety of examples of thinking operations from Direct Instruction programs.…

This discussion of special needs students in the context of British education supports and extends John Fish's "dimensions" concept, a descriptive system which is seen as neither crudely categorical nor completely individualized. The model involves five dimensions of special needs, each banded into six levels of need intensity. (DB)

This commentary on the inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood programs raises issues concerning balancing the roles of advocate, scientist, and person with strong beliefs; interpreting the intent of research on integration issues; and a seeming overreaction to a supposed "deficit-model" of the past. (DB)

Two factors, inclusion and diversity, have resulted in new collaboration between special educators and general educators and implementation of coteaching arrangements. This paper discusses the coteaching model, including various forms of coteaching and reported effectiveness with students with disabilities. Noted are frequent accounts in the…

This article explains the combination of instructional practices called personalized contextual instruction (PCI) and illustrates its implementation by a general education teacher, a special education teacher, and a paraprofessional working together in a multiage primary inclusive classroom. The PCI approach incorporates individual learning…

This paper examines the concept of "outcomes-based education" (OBE), how it was developed, how it relates to other current reforms that encompass the notion of outcomes, and how it relates to students with disabilities in theory and in practice. Outcomes-based education holds that all children can learn and succeed and that schools are…