At the University of Central Missouri (UCM), the THRIVE program is made up of young adults, ages 18 to 25, who have developmental or intellectual disabilities. A merger occurred between the THRIVE program and the adapted physical education course required for physical education teacher education (PETE) students to provide practical experiences for…

In this article, the author presents questions that can help parents determine: (1) whether or not their child's school has a special program for gifted and talented (GT) students; (2) how valid it is; and (3) whether or not it's appropriate for their high-potential child. Each question is direct, to the point, and intended to help parents find…

Special Olympics programs have done much to help in the normalization of retarded and disabled individuals. This article suggests problems in the program that tend to label all retarded people as "kids." Ideas for placing a greater emphasis on normalization are discussed. (DF)

The Campbell County Public Schools (VA) developed Project ACCENT (Arts, Citizenship, Career Education to Nurture Native Talents) to allow 150 gifted and talented high school students to investigate fine arts careers through the experience and guidance of a practicing professional artist. (SBH)

Tendencies of a gifted child include intense interests, remarkable memory, abstract thinking, wonderful sense of humor, verbal ability, perfectionism, sensitivity, and curiosity. Gifted children often are not well served by public education, where in some districts the definition of who is gifted has broadened to the extent that even special…

College dropout rate as a function of poor fit between institution and students has been studied extensively, but how this phenomenon operates for disadvantaged students is not adequately understood. This study examines the effects of a project that attempts to use peer relationships--tutoring and mentoring--to improve academic performance and…

Several current approaches to evaluation stress the importance of making explicit the conceptual structure of a program--displaying the hierarchically related transactions which explain the program's movement from a set of "inputs" to a set of desired outcomes. However, individualized programs present particular difficulties in…

This document is an issue of a journal "Linkages," that in general serves as a forum for exchanging information and ideas on issues relevant to three City University of New York (CUNY) programs. The programs are Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge (SEEK), College Discovery (CD), and College Discovery and Development Program…

This paper reports on technical assistance provided to 21 exemplary Title I projects participating in a special dissemination strategy to improve educational services for disadvantaged students. The dissemination strategy is outlined, and descriptions are given of the participating projects. The types of technical assistance and support services,…

This article presents the results of a longitudinal study of underprepared college students. The goals was to assess the effects of coordinated programming that allowed groups of these students with the weakest academic skills to attend the same classes together and have the same counselor. In this way, the instructors and the counselors could…

Whereas mentoring programs are well received as support services, very little empirical research has been conducted to assess the effectiveness of these programs to meet the diverse needs of different special populations of youth. Potentially useful theoretical orientations (attachment, parental acceptance-rejection, social support, adult…

The Preprofessional Program's objectives for increasing minority student participation in the health sciences are outlined in this report. Steps taken by the program to meet each of the objectives are briefly described. Data collected during the last year of the program are presented for such areas as class composition, students' career interests,…

Describes a program in Corvallis, Oregon, that provides vocational employment experience for disabled students. Success is attributed to community and business cooperation, training in diverse work sites, and placement flexibility. (CJH)

This text provides future and practicing teachers of deaf children with basic theoretical and research knowledge as well as specific principles and practices for fostering the development of language and reading. In this third edition of "Language Learning Practices with Deaf Children," the authors have added a section on language assessment in…

The paper describes the Astor program for prekindergarten through primary age intellectually gifted children, and presents findings of a 5-year followup on the effect of the program on children's growth. Outlined are the program's major goals (including the promotion of continuing research, experimentation, and education of gifted in New York City…