This report presents the findings of a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Social, and Cultural Organization) survey of the state of legislation on special needs education in 52 member states. Most of the information was gathered in 1992-93. This document represents the final work compiled in 1994-95. Part 1 presents an analysis and synthesis of…

This paper reports on the concerns of rural school superintendents in Texas regarding the inclusion of special needs students in regular classrooms. The Change Facilitator Stages of Concerns Questionnaire (CFSoCQ) and a demographic data sheet were completed by 484 of the 708 rural superintendents in Texas. The CFSoCQ consists of 35 items…

This final report describes activities and achievements of Project Relationship, a Los Angeles (California) program designed to support the successful inclusion of young children with disabilities and challenging behaviors in publicly funded child care settings. During the 3 years of model development and 2 years of model refinement and…

This final report describes activities and achievements of a Texas project to facilitate inclusive programming for preschool and primary children with disabilities using the High/Scope approach, which provides for developmentally appropriate programming for young children with and without disabilities. The project focused on capacity building…

This brief paper summarizes guidelines for adapting instruction for advanced learners in inclusive, mixed-ability middle school classrooms. A rationale for differentiating instruction is followed by consideration of what differentiation is and is not. Characteristics of a differentiated class are enumerated, including: instruction is concept…

This paper presents a summary of the current status of efforts to include students with mental retardation in mainstream educational programs. It begins with a summary of a New Jersey federal court's ruling requiring more inclusive education and a discussion of the commitment of the Arc (formerly The Association for Retarded Citizens of the United…

Project Blend, initiated in 1988, is a collaborative effort between the superintendencies of Alternative High Schools/Special Programs and Citywide Programs of the New York City public school system. The program brings general education students into facilities that serve only special education students. This reverse mainstreaming allows…

Special education is under fire from full inclusionists who advocate for children with severe mental retardation and who contend that special education settings are immoral dumping grounds for children deemed "unteachable." Other advocates of inclusion focus on the invalidity of disability categories, tests, and instructional services which, in…

This videotape and viewing guide present an emerging learner-centered paradigm of teaching and learning and contrast this new paradigm with traditional concepts. An associated guide describes the elementary school in the videotape, noting the full inclusion of 50 students identified as disabled, the team approach in which teachers are renamed…

Each of these issues of "Understanding Our Gifted" is based on the following themes: valuing parents, excellence revisited, networking, talent searches, attention deficit disorders, and mainstreaming the gifted. Feature articles of the six issues include: "'Pushy and Domineering': A Stigma Placed on Parents of Gifted Children" (Lynn C. Cole and…

This digest examines the mandates and requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). (Its scope does not include the IDEA's Part H program.) The digest gives a brief history of the IDEA, procedures for obtaining a copy of the IDEA and its regulations, and procedures for obtaining a copy of an individual state's special…

The debate about whether special education should abolish or conserve its cascade of services model has produced conservationists, who believe in a case-by-case approach to integration by which movement into less restrictive settings is planned, implemented, and evaluated individually, and abolitionists, who work for full inclusion of all students…

A 1991 survey of Directors of Special Education in Kansas indicated a shortage of deaf education teachers and problems with retention of deaf education teachers in rural areas. In addition, 15 of 22 respondents documented an increase in the number of deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) children in their districts. Project Rural Education is a program…

This study explored the relationship between costs and benefits of supported (inclusionary) education practices as implemented in 10 schools in 9 Oregon school districts. Specifically, results are presented from a series of interviews conducted with special education directors and principals. Interviews explored administrators' perceptions…

This guide for 4-H leaders and volunteers offers information to help integrate youth with disabilities into various 4-H programs. After an introduction, a section on 4-H and mainstreaming reviews the mission of 4-H; considers what 4-H has to offer youth; defines mainstreaming; notes the benefits of mainstreaming; and distinguishes among the terms…