One objective in Finnish basic education is for pupils with disabilities or behavioral problems to be able to participate in mainstream education and ordinary classrooms. Positive behavior support (PBS) is an approach that offers multi-tiered behavior support for pupils. In addition to providing support at a universal level, educators need to have…

Two key areas identified for research are differences in practice between nurture groups and mainstream classrooms, and nurturing approaches in rural and low-density populations. This study compared classroom practice in a nurture group serving a wide rural area with the four mainstream classes to which the five children in the group belonged. The…

This article explores the benefits and challenges of operating an inclusive elementary and special education teacher preparation program within a disability studies framework. How does such a program balance issues of theory and practice? How does it provide students with a critical approach that essentially views disability as a social and…

This study examines the perceptions of elementary education majors (EEMs) and secondary education majors (SEMs) toward the inclusion of students with disabilities (SWDs) prior to and after taking a course on integrating exceptional students. The study is guided by Pajares' (1992) framework on beliefs. Successful teaching and learning in the…

The Lao People's Democratic Republic Inclusive Education Project started in 1993 and during a 16-year period, ending in May 2009, it aimed to support the participation of all children in school, with a particular focus on disabled students. The main strategy to enable this involved working to change the education system through the introduction of…

The effects of a peer tutoring procedure on the spelling behavior of a mainstreamed elementary school learning disabled student were investigated. Overall results indicated that the S obtained greater accuracy on the spelling tests during the peer tutoring than baseline condition. Both the tutor and the tutored student claimed improved spelling.…

Suggestions for implementing a successful classroom program integrating hearing and deaf primary grade students include preparing hearing children for the arrival of deaf children and giving all children equal attention after helping the deaf students make a transition into the classroom. (CB)

The study examined the progress of 15 intellectually handicapped children who had previously attended an early intervention program and were now in their first to third year at normal primary school. Data indicated that most children had adjusted well to the classroom setting and were well accepted by their peers. Academically, progress of the…

Evaluation of summer Get Together programs (structured educational and recreational programs committed to integrating disabled children) serving 36 children (5-12 years old) revealed parentally reported improvements in communication skills and social skills. Some severely disabled children increased tolerance to the noise and activity of large…

The paper reports on application of a case-by-case reintegration approach to helping 10 behaviorally disordered elementary students transition into less restrictive environments. The strategy combined transenvironmental programing, student-directed interventions, and collaborative consultation. Effectiveness was suggested by the number of students…

The paper describes an inner city elementary program for mainstreaming seriously emotionally disturbed (SED) students. It is suggested that the program, despite sharing the building with nonhandicapped students, is really physically segregated, and that rigid use of the Distar curriculum does not prepare the student for later creative problem…

The spread effect (the impact on those other than the initial participants) of inservice teacher education regarding mainstreaming is described in terms of increased awareness of handicapping conditions on the part of other staff and students in middle and elementary settings. (CL)

Discusses the difficulties in conducting a case study on the attitudes and beliefs that individuals held about mainstreaming a boy with disabilities, including changes in terminology, methodological dilemmas, and discrepancies between the definitions that participants explicitly shared and observations of their interactions with the boy. (CR)

This article reports the progress of 13 learning-disabled students after 1 year of planning and 1 year of implementing the "Mainstream Experiences for the Learning Disabled" (MELD) model in an urban elementary school. Students made no significant progress in reading or math and earned lower grades during the implementation year. (DB)