The first section of this essay reviews forces that led to the Regular Education Initiative (REI). Findings from research on effective instruction, innovation and staff development are synthesized. A conceptual framework is offered to explain factors necessary to create meaningful, sustained changes in classroom practices as required by the REI.…

This study explored effects of a service delivery system for learning-disabled (LD) secondary students in regular content area classrooms using Mainstream Consultation Agreements (MCAs), in which regular and special education teachers defined shared responsibilities for each student. Evaluation results with 29 LD students found both improvement…

The article offers guidelines for using the regular education mathematics curriculum for students with mild disabilities. Approaches geared toward mildly handicapped adolescents include the parallel alternate curriculum, the resource room model, and the strategies intervention model. Specific teaching suggestions are also recommended as are…

The interactions of three dyads, consisting of one student with moderate mental retardation and one nondisabled peer, were assessed while playing computer games. Results indicated that students (ages 13-14) exhibited more frequent social initiations, higher degrees of game satisfaction, and equal/higher degrees of peer satisfaction while playing…

The author of EC 607 583 responds to questions about her research on mainstreamed behaviorally disordered aggressive adolescents' perceptions of helpful and unhelpful teacher attitudes and behaviors. Issues relevant to future research in this area are noted. (JDD)

This article argues against having special educators observe regular teachers prior to selection of teachers for mainstreamed students with emotional or behavioral disorders, disagreeing on the grounds that special education teachers do not have the time, the knowledge, the skills, or the authority to select teachers. (DB)

Describes inclusive practices in four small, rural Wisconsin schools. These models focus on scheduling for cross-categorical programming, including students with challenging behaviors, coteaching, and practicing inclusion in high school. Includes philosophy of inclusion and program features for each model. Contains 24 references. (SAS)

Describes an English for academic purposes program design that uses a content-based, integrated skills approach to prepare learners for the demands of mainstream instruction. (Author/VWL)

Four focus groups (n=21) were conducted to gather information about coping issues and teacher attitudes related to the education of children with a neuromuscular disease. Results indicate a need for better home/school communication, a need to establish children's sense of competence, and a need for improved peer relationships. (Author/CR)

Notes that as more young children with disabilities are included in classrooms for children who are developing typically, practitioners must continue to identify and refine strategies for making inclusion successful. Discusses a successful inclusion program that is observation based and child initiated. Discusses a procedure that facilitates the…

Reports the results of a case study that investigated teachers' attitudes, beliefs. and practices in facilitating or hindering the success of English as a Second or Other Language students in high school. (Author/VWL)

Describes one elementary school's experimental, inclusive, fifth-grade class that was team-taught by a special and a regular educator, focusing on: shared decision making, curriculum development, how the teachers changed, how the students grew, and the school support system (which included the teachers, the students, the principal, other faculty…

Using a systematic storytelling procedure termed critical incident recording, a teacher-as-researcher model was implemented with staff in early childhood centers that include children with disabilities. The approach encourages teachers to conduct a critical analysis of children's performance and of environmental variables that contribute to…

Since the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act became law, advocacy groups, educators, and the courts have struggled to define "least restrictive environment." Viewpoints have ranged from stressing total inclusion to combining special/regular education resources to benefit all students and providing a full continuum of services in…

Investigated classroom management techniques of K-12 teachers whose classrooms included children with Down Syndrome. Teachers, all selected by parents as successful, reported that praise was the best motivator for the Down Syndrome children, and the most effective learning methods were individual and small-group instruction, hands-on activities,…