Notes the difficulty of finding quality day care for special needs children. Discusses Project Specialcare, designed to support family child-care providers who accept such children into their programs. Describes how providers participated in Saturday sessions focused on a topic followed by open discussion and how the advice and counsel of a…

Study examines the classes of variables identified in D. L. MacMillan and G. M. Morrison's (1984) multicomponent model for research on sociometric status in special education. Results are discussed with reference to social-exchange theory, as an integrative basis for research on children's sociometric status. Implications for mainstreaming…

Results of a study involving 74 learning-disabled or mentally retarded primary-grade students suggest that self-concept should weigh more heavily in decisions affecting students with disabilities. Self-concepts of these students were negatively correlated with the amount of time they spent in general classroom settings. (SLD)

Historically, it was more convenient to remove the disabled from the social mainstream than to integrate them in schools or provide jobs or training. This article traces progress made by case law and federal legislation, including the 1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act, 1973 Rehabilitation Act (Section 504), and 1990 Individuals with…

Summarizes litigation concerning requirements that schools provide students with disabilities services in the least restrictive environment (LRE). It identifies and delineates the LRE standards established within federal circuit courts and suggests an alternative, more comprehensive, standard that reflects the explicit mandates of the Individuals…

Offers strategies for modifying the regular class curriculum for high-ability students including lesson modifications, assignment modifications, and scheduling modifications. Three case studies illustrate these modifications. (DB)

Considers the proposal that students could learn as much English as they needed in one intensive year, after which they could be successfully "mainstreamed." Argues that this might work for small children, but there are different considerations when fluency for college-prep courses are addressed. Concludes that effective teachers look to their…

Recently, a major debate has arisen between full-inclusion advocates and their critics. Morse maintains that full inclusion is the only way to ensure that mandates of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act are carried out. Santos argues that inclusion must be tempered by alternative arrangements that best serve an individual child's…

This study of three high school students with severe disabilities in regular education classes found that regular class participation was an important source for meeting peers without disabilities who subsequently became members of students' social networks. Perceived quality of social contacts was not dependent on initial contact being made…

Describes the planning and initial implementation of the restructuring of Oswego Middle School, New York, toward full inclusion for students with mild, moderate, and severe disabilities. Includes lists of Inclusive Education Committee activities, and a three-year building-based planning process for implementing inclusion. (JPB)

Sketches some future trends of inquiry in adapted physical activity. These include investigation into ethics in adapted physical activity. Empirically based issues of inquiry include physical activity as a dependent measure, diverse and changing populations, theoretical and applied research, nomothetic and idiographic research perspectives,…

Argues that professionals and parents must weigh inclusion against competing values of high-quality programs, specialized services, and family-centered practices in making placement decisions for children. Demonstrates how these values and inclusion are difficult to achieve simultaneously. Argues that inclusive placement should be the goal, but…

Discusses the fallacies that pervade the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) profession: that students arriving in primary school do not require ESL support in order to mainstream successfully. Describes a program designed to help younger-arriving ESL learners once they reach high school, with powerful implications for practice in all K-12…

Describes inclusive education, explaining what it is and what it is not; presenting components of successful inclusive programs (strong leadership, collaboration, student support, refocused use of assessment, funding, and effective parent involvement); and describing the parent's role. Sidebars discusses person-first language, the Individuals with…

Discusses an ethnographic study that followed cohorts of English-as-Second-Language learners enrolled in mainstream Canadian classrooms in kindergarten through Grade 2. Examines classroom practices that appear to offer participants access to the linguistic resources of their community and those in which participants appear to have limited access…