This article presents the educational situation of Sinti and Roma in Germany. The members of this highly heterogeneous minority group differ not only in terms of the time of their immigration, their legal status and language, but also in terms of their educational participation and success. The only thing they have in common is that they can all…

"Making Assessment Work: Ten Practitioner Beliefs" was developed by the National Practitioner Advisory Group on Using Data to Inspire SEL Practice (NPAG), a group of social and emotional learning (SEL) practice leaders convened to provide insights on SEL. Educators, program leaders, and policymakers recognize the value of holistically…

Dr. Frank Gresham provides his reflections on a long and productive career in providing support to children with significant challenges. Dr. Gresham also provides his thoughts on the future of the field.

Teachers must be skilled in providing differentiated instruction to adequately meet the needs of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who require additional attention and support. Peer-mediation intervention is suggested as a tool to assist teachers. In peer-mediated interventions, peers may be trained to initiate social interactions and…

Thirty-six children between 9 and 12 years of age were invited to share their ideas on how to socially include classmates with learning or intellectual disabilities at school. Participants generated 80 strategies which were categorized into seven major themes. Thematic categories focused on the need for teachers to intervene in academic and social…

In September 2013, a Listening Session on Mentoring Children of Incarcerated Parents was held in Washington, DC. This session was organized by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in partnership with the White House Domestic Policy Council and Office of Public Engagement. It continues the…

A skill essential for successful inclusion in general education settings is the ability to learn by observing others. Research, however, has documented children with autism display significant deficits in the fundamental skills necessary for observational learning. This article outlines the skills essential for observational learning from an…

From an evolutionary perspective, the normal social play of children involves kids of various ages. Our human and great-ape ancestors most likely lived in small groups with low birth rates, which made play with others of nearly the same age rare. Consequently, the evolutionary functions of children's social play are best understood by examining…

Lev Vygotsky is no doubt one of the leading educational theorists in history. His theories have been used to guide teaching and learning in public school classrooms for over a century. Vygotsky was considered to be one of the most creative psychologists of the twentieth century. This article covers a brief accounting of his birth, life…

Reading, writing, and discussing biographies provide unique opportunities for teachers and students. Critical thinking can be developed through questioning, predicting, and analyzing various biographical mediums--texts, photographs and illustrations, book reviews, websites, films, news articles, etc.--to learn more about an individual's life…

In this issue of "Odyssey," Joanne Corwin describes New Mexico's statewide partnership among several agencies for the provision of early intervention services to infants and children who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families (Effective Partnering of State Agencies to Achieve Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Benchmarks,…

Upper elementary children today, while retaining many of the characteristics ascribed to them generations ago by theorists such as Piaget, Erikson, and Kohlberg, are different. Developmental characteristics across multiple domains remain relatively predictable for the upper elementary years, but they also reflect changes in society and school…

Troubled children need models of hope to transcend adversity. This article provides sketches of individuals who have overcome turbulent backgrounds to make notable contributions to humanity.

The prison population has increased substantially in countries around the world and significant numbers of these prisoners are parents. Children of prisoners experience separation from the imprisoned parent. The separation and precursors to the separation often diminish these children's social-emotional and educational well-being. In this paper,…

Evidence-based practices (EBPs) are the basis on which teachers and other service providers are required to design educational programs for learners with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). As part of their work with the National Professional Development Center (NPDC) on ASD, researchers developed a process for reviewing the research literature and…