Reverse mainstreaming (integrating sighted children into a special class) can be an effective approach with visually impaired elementary students, both in terms of academic benefits (such as increased individualized instruction for sighted students) and social benefits (including a greater understanding of blindness). (CL)

Focusing on common misconceptions about children who have trouble learning to read, two papers discuss new ways to think about and teach these students. "Revaluing Readers and Reading," by Kenneth S. Goodman, argues that troubled readers should not be thought of as sufferers from an illness, but as strong, healthy individuals fully…

Timeout use was found to be low to moderate for the majority of 88 severely behaviorally disordered students in an elementary school self-contained program. Little evidence was found of a relationship between timeout use and academic achievement. In contrast, measures of school absence, in particular truancy, were correlated with poor academic…

The purposes of elementary school career education for mildly handicapped students, and specific learning activities and materials, are discussed. Elementary level career education components are identified as the development of social skills, self-understanding, communication and computation abilities, and the exploration of a variety of careers.…

The study explored teacher attitudes towards gifted programming and the gifted label, and determined whether teacher attitudes changed after being involved with an elementary school gifted program. Twenty-nine elementary classroom teachers in Jefferson County, Colorado, were surveyed as their school was beginning to host a full-time,…

Based on a study of the differences between the way regular and special education teachers handle classroom transitions, this discussion suggests seven steps special education teachers should take to aid students in classroom transitions. A list of 24 different transition cues is included. (JC)

Suggestions for using children's literature in special classes for hearing-impaired elementary grade students are offered, using Wanda Gag's "Millions of Cats" as an example that is applied across all curriculum areas. (DB)

Implementation of a token economy system with a time-out backup consequence in a highly structured self-contained elementary classroom for children with emotional and behavior disorders demonstrated a strong functional relationship between the intervention system and improvement in the students' behavior. (Author/DB)

The program was developed to minimize classroom disruptions which often occur when a behavior problem student (9 to 13 years old) from a special education homeroom is placed in the mainstream. The program also was designed to encourage on task performance and work completion both in the homeroom and mainstream settings through reinforcement for…

A small-town school corporation developed self-contained, full-time gifted classes for its elementary school students. This article describes program administration, acceleration and enrichment activities, staffing, and efforts to expand the benefits of the program to others. (JDD)

Elementary-school learning-disabled, emotionally disabled, educable mentally retarded, and nonhandicapped students (N=122) were observed during written language instruction, to document writing tasks and student responding. Extreme variability was found in the amount of time individual students spent in writing activities or in receiving written…

Kellogg Elementary School in Hickory Corners, Michigan has developed a special program for gifted students which emphasizes a conceptual, or problem-solving, approach to art. This article outlines the program's objectives, activities, and its five teaching units. Part of a theme issue on art for special needs students. (SJL)

This article describes the introduction of writing portfolios to elementary school students with learning disabilities in self-contained special education classrooms. It discusses getting started, contents of the portfolio, instructional goals and objectives, conferences, observations, and portfolio evaluation. (Author/DB)

Israeli elementary-level hearing-impaired students (N=188) were studied to determine the relation between background variables (family characteristics, student characteristics, and educational intervention) and educational placement (special schools, special classes, or regular classes). Placement was found to be related to socioeconomic status,…

This paper describes a rural Hispanic community's efforts to identify and develop a program for gifted students in grades 2-6 who are also mildly to moderately handicapped (learning disabled, behavior disordered, or communication disordered). The "Twice Exceptional" (2E) program, in Los Lunas, New Mexico, is a modified full-time separate…