This paper focusses on the organisational responses of secondary schools to newly arrived migrant students. In Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium), as in many other European regions, newly arrived students are placed in segregated classes that aim to prepare them for integration in mainstream education. Deriving from, on the one hand,…

Students with intellectual disabilities (ID) often experience difficulties in their peer relationships at school. Although a broad knowledge base on peer relationships in inclusive classrooms exists, much less is known about peer relationships in special needs classrooms. We conducted a systematic review of the literature on peer relationships in…

Background: Within the emergence of inclusive education in Indonesia, transitions take on various forms impacting the educational and social lives of students. This paper reports the experiences of primary school students with intellectual disabilities during transitions in various contexts. Methods: An initial period of research used…

This quasi-experimental study focused on 15 pairs of children with extensive support needs, matched across 12 characteristics based on their first complete Individual Education Program (IEP) in the school district. One child in each pair was included in general education for 80% or more of their day from their first IEP to the most current IEP at…

Background: The improvement of engagement and involvement in communicative and socially centred exchanges for individuals with multiple and severe disability (MSD) presents complex and urgent challenges to educators. This paper reports the findings of an intervention study designed to enhance the interactive skills of students with MSD using an…

What would schools and classrooms look like if they truly mirrored our democratic ideals? In this issue of the Occasional Papers, five authors explore current and historical questions related to the inclusion of children with disabilities in public schools. The history of educating children with disabilities--an ongoing civil rights issue--has…

This study combines various aspects of previous research on attitudes and behavioral intentions toward children with a disability. It extends previous research in the attempts to evaluate attitudes and behavioral intentions toward intellectual and physical disability separately in addition to examining "general" disability. Study design also…

In this article the author presents results from an ongoing study about a special education programme in Switzerland for students with behavior disorders. The study explores careers and identities of adolescent students, who were referred to so-called "Timeout-classes" because of behavior disorders (e.g disengagement, disruptive and…

Results indicated that, on the whole, social interactions among behaviorally disordered elementary Ss were both positive and reciprocial in nature. In addition, no discernible differences were noted between the target-initiated social behavior of high- and low-status students. Specific differences were found in peer social behavior directed toward…

Three children with autism from a self-contained elementary special education class participated in daily free-play sessions with 15 nondisabled peers, who were sequentially individually trained in appropriate interaction skills. Generalized interactions between students with autism and nontrained peers began in all three groups after the…

The Integrated Preschool Curriculum (IPC), which is designed to facilitate the social integration of young children at risk for learning disabilities into mainstreaming and integrated special education classes, was compared with a standard early childhood education model curriculum. The IPC successfully promoted social interaction between…

Students (n=12) in a self-contained elementary class for students with learning disabilities were taught using instructional conversation (IC), a teaching method in which students are engaged in interactions promoting analysis, reflection, and critical thinking. IC promoted oral participation and interactions among students and provided a holistic…

Four information briefs offer guidelines for educators of students with deaf-blindness in integrated or self-contained settings, concerning: (1) facilitating student interactions; (2) adapting classroom materials and activities; (3) grouping students to increase interaction; and (4) implementing cooperative learning strategies. To facilitate…

NOTING THAT RECENT RESEARCH POINTS TO LINGUISTIC CODE DIFFERENCES AS AN IMPORTANT FACET OF CULTURAL DEPRIVATION AND THAT THE MAJORITY OF EDUCABLE MENTALLY RETARDED (EMR) CHILDREN COME FROM LOW SOCIOECONOMIC LEVELS, IT WAS HYPOTHESIZED THAT ONE OF THE KEYS TO LEARNING FOR EMR CHILDREN IS THE COMPLEXITY OF THE TEACHER'S LANGUAGE IN RELATION TO THAT…

Flanders' Interaction Analysis, which classifies verbal interaction into 10 categories, was used to compare two groups consisting of seven trainable mentally retarded (TMR) classrooms each. The sample was selected from the extremes of a population of 87 TMR classrooms on the basis of their teachers' high (tending to flexibility and harmony) or low…