This study of interactions between three severely withdrawn, autistic preschool children and six nonhandicapped peers found that peers can be effectively taught strategies to increase appropriate social behaviors of autistic classmates, and a group-oriented reinforcement contingency is an effective complement to teacher-prompted interventions and…

Addresses the importance of family-school collaboration, with emphasis on the changing nature of families in the United States; the understanding and practice of collaboration wherein all of the parties are equal partners; exemplary family-school collaborative models; and implications for practitioners. (SM)

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…

Three young children with severe, multiple disabilities were taught to utilize a voice output communication aid (VOCA) to request access to preferred items and/or peers during play activities. Acquisition of VOCA use resulted from a naturalistic intervention strategy that consisted of creating communication opportunities, prompting the participant…

This bulletin summarizes research on the benefits of inclusive education programs; provides data on the current status of special education; and considers studies of individual inclusion programs, state and district studies, and the effects of inclusion on students without disabilities. The research and evaluation data on inclusion indicate a…

This article by Patricia Whitelaw-Hill, Executive Director of READ, addresses the issue of the education of limited-English students in public education. New York has joined California in concluding that bilingual education programs are not working as well as English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) programs in helping language minority students become…

An experimental project was implemented to test the effectiveness of full inclusion of students with learning and behavioral disorders at a rural middle school within the Appalachian region of Kentucky. Thirteen students with behavioral disorders or learning disabilities were placed in four regular classrooms for 3 months. Five teachers…

This report describes the results of a longitudinal study of 30 Australian children with behavior disorders who were placed in 15 regular primary schools in Victoria and New South Wales. All of these schools were in the process of integrating children with behavior disorders. In each school in the initial study, the principal, classroom teacher,…

This report describes a project to develop a tool to assist local schools and districts in choosing among various educational approaches to serving children and youth with disabilities in general education settings. The primary purpose of the study, its objectives, and the final product are described in the first chapter. The second chapter…

The Cooperative Elementary School (CES) model involves the use of cooperative learning across a variety of content areas and full-scale mainstreaming of academically handicapped students. Teachers use peer coaching and plan in a cooperative manner. The model emphasizes teacher involvement in site-based management and parent involvement in the…

An exceptional student education specialist implemented a 10-week practicium intervention designed to decrease the inappropriate behavior and increase the appropriate behavior of exceptional students who had been mainstreamed into regular fourth- and fifth-grade classes. A total of 16 students classified as learning disabled or emotionally…

A mathematics program was developed and implemented at the Jefferson County (Ohio) Joint Vocational School to raise the mathematics functioning of special needs students by using interactive computers. Special needs students were pre- and posttested with the Wide Range Achievement Test, Arithmetic section. The 11th-grade students functioning at…

This study examined the variables that affect vocational teachers' implementation of an educational innovation--peer tutors for mainstreamed special education students. The researchers explored teachers' perceptions of the peer tutoring program prior to the inservice session, at the completion of a pilot test, and prior to the second year of…

Project Adelante provided instruction in English as a second language (ESL), as well as bilingual instruction in social studies, mathematics, and science to 230 students of limited English proficiency at William H. Taft High Schol, Bronx, New York City. One of the program's major goals was to expedite the acquisition and use of English language…

The manual explains how to plan, implement, and evaluate an alternative learning resource center approach to mainstreaming for elementary school students classified as educable mentally retarded, perceptually impaired, or neurologically impaired. (It is noted that a 3-year learning center demonstration project, funded under Title III, was…