Few studies examine specific interventions for increasing narrative text comprehension for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, both the cognitive reading profiles common in ASD and the focus on access to complex text for all learners suggest the need for interventions to support narrative text comprehension. Using a multiple…

The present study describes the instructional contexts and activities of adolescents with autism in inclusive and self-contained settings for mathematics and language arts instruction using a descriptive statistics design. In the study, 15 adolescents with autism, and 30 peers of these students, participated. All students were observed over the…

The focus of this study was on increasing the knowledge base on students with disabilities at the secondary level. Data were gathered on 559 classified secondary students with disabilities served in four educational options: cotaught classes, resource rooms, alternate day support programs, and no direct supports. Results indicate that there are…

In response to a paper by David Sabatino (EC 051 608), the author provides data from a 13 year study of special education placement further supporting findings of the ineffectiveness of special class placement, and suggests that resource personnel can best function by providing assistance to regular teachers. (DB)

The study with five mildly handicapped students (ages 10-12) found that changing setting (regular or resource classroom) alone had no significant impact on student performance. The combined effect of changes in test materials and test administrator, however, indicated that curriculum differences did affect extent to which skills were transferred…

A synthesis of eight studies, involving 442 students, that examined the perceptions of students with learning disabilities concerning their educational settings resulted in five overall findings, including (1) most students preferred to receive specialized instruction outside of the general education classroom for part of the school day and (2)…

Reviewed are the results of 17 studies of resource programs and their effects on the academic achievement and personal-social development of exceptional children. (Author/JYC)

A survey about teacher supervision and its perceived relationship to beneficial outcomes was completed by 580 Maine resource room teachers. Most reported little or no supervision, but what supervision was received was generally regarded as beneficial, although it often did not pertain to teaching practices. (Author/PB)

Presented is a rebuttal to six responses to a paper recommending the resource room model in special education. (DB)

Elementary school pupils identified as being a year or more behind in reading and/or math achievement and who were observed as spending low percentages of time on task were selected for participation in an intensive engineered resource room program. Groups of approximately 10 Ss participated in each of three eight-week intervention phases. (Author)

Evaluated with 104 experimental and 104 control Ss (at the elementary grade level) was whether the academic and behavioral gains made after 1 or 2 years of part-time placement in a behaviorally oriented resource room would be maintained following full-time attendance in a regular class for 2 or 3 years. (Author/DB)

Comparison of questionnaires completed by 32 therapeutic teachers, 39 regular teachers, and 28 school psychologists in Israel resulted in a unified picture of the therapeutic teacher's role. Therapeutic aspects and emotional features were clearly preferred to academic improvement. Psychologists as a group were more reserved in expectations, but…

The resource room concept need not be considered as merely an alternative learning environment for handicapped children but can aid in the improvement of general education so that fewer children need specialized services and in the provision of services for children who still require specialized instruction. (DB)

This study compared Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for 108 elementary grade students with mild disabilities in either resource or inclusive settings. IEPs for resource students had more service minutes, more long-range goals, used more information sources, indicated better correspondence between IEP components and student ability level,…

Two studies compared the inclusion only, pull-out only, and combined services models for elementary students with mild disabilities, using a survey of 80 teachers and comparison of reading improvement in 240 students in the 3 models. Teacher satisfaction and student progress in reading were significantly greater for the combined services model.…