Over the past decades significant changes have occurred throughout all aspects of the field of Special Education in Spain. One of these changes is related to appropriate and effective instruction for students with disabilities and diverse educational needs in inclusive classroom placements. All of these change efforts have created the need to…

One of the provisions of the law for special education in Cyprus is for children considered as having special needs to be educated in "special units". The purpose of this study is to investigate and observe the way that "special units" function in the educational environment in Cyprus, paying particular attention to one unit in…

This article, in the form of a letter from the parent of a teenager to parents of younger children with disabilities, encourages parents to take advantage of integrated educational opportunities for their children. Negative aspects of segregated education are illustrated with examples from the teenager's life. (DB)

The paper distinguishes American and Canadian applications of the terms "mainstreaming" and "integration" in relation to placement of exceptional children in settings which foster interaction between them and their non-handicapped peers such as regular classes in neighborhood schools. The two terms are seen to represent…

This study compared the contextual classroom features of public school segregated classrooms and community-based integrated classrooms for 16 preschool children with disabilities, by examining the relations between classroom characteristics and child sociability. The two classroom contexts were found to be similar, with no differences in child…

Federal legislation for educating students with disabilities guides the selection of educational placements on the basis of the least restrictive environment, which must encourage the promotion of social interaction between students with disabilities and their nondisabled peers and must provide students an appropriate education. Some advocacy…

This article reports on several studies that used discourse analysis to interpret the linguistic interactions between students with special educational needs in segregated and integrated settings. Results indicated that integrated settings were characterized by "didactic" interactions, while segregated settings showed "familiar" behavior. (DB)

This collection of position statements issued by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) addresses three issues: (1) inclusive schools and community settings; (2) physical intervention; and (3) discipline. CEC's policy on inclusive schools is to support the concept of inclusion as a meaningful goal but also urge that a continuum of services be…

Assessment of age, disability severity, developmental status, functional abilities, and behavioral characteristics of 162 children (ages 11 to 102 months) found that children enrolled in inclusive programs were more mildly disabled and functioned at higher levels than counterparts in programs exclusively for children with disabilities.…

This study compared 16 students with either a less or more severe disability from elementary schools using the "full inclusion" model and 16 similar students from schools using the special class model. The study analyzed individualized education plans and also compared program quality and student outcome variables. Significant…

This study compared three levels of inclusion (special education only, integrated special education, and mainstream placements) on the cognitive and language development of 66 preschool children with disabilities. Analysis of pre- to postgains revealed that integrated special education produced gains that significantly exceeded the rate of normal…

The Bridging Early Services Transition (BEST) Project--Outreach was designed to help families, administrators, and service providers facilitate the transition of young children, birth through age 5, as they move between services and service systems including: from early intervention to special preschool services; from Head Start or preschool to…

Interviews with mothers of preschool age children with established disabilities (n=230) and those classified as at-risk (n=32) were conducted, focusing on issues of children's peer relations and friendships. Mothers of children in both integrated and specialized settings perceived their respective settings as facilitating social development. Both…

This study compared the actual resource costs and outcomes of instruction in inclusive classrooms with the costs and outcomes of special class/integrated instruction in a California school district where both types of programs were operating. Four students included in general elementary education classrooms were matched with four pupils from…