The transformation of a large, private, church-affiliated provider of residential services for individuals with mental retardation from an institutionally based to a community-based service system is described. Factors influencing the decision to close the 200-person residential facility, guidelines followed during the transition, and evidence of…

Features of programs that successfully blended the middle school (MS) model or cooperative learning (CL) model with gifted education were assessed. Site visits were made to five MS sites and five CL sites at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Studies showed that gifted students' needs can be met within these programs, with appropriate…

Summarizes a study using a service marketing-mix model (promoting product, place, price, promotion, people, processes, and proof) to document educational marketing practices in 11 public and private British schools. The schools visited evinced a general lack of coherent marketing practice. Administrators had little management training in…

This article presents a model for utilizing a new paraprofessional, the interpreter-tutor, to help provide necessary educational support in public schools to children who are deaf-blind. It discusses the role of the interpreter-tutor, outlines required knowledge and skills, and gives a case study example. (Author/DB)

Examines adolescents' health-care needs and the barriers that keep young people from receiving services. Explores the role of school-based health services in adolescents' health care and discusses access to care, adolescent demographics and health-risk factors, services and program philosophy, service utilization, and the continuum of care. (RJM)

Investigated how much time special education teachers spend in direct and indirect services and compares the amount of time teachers in different types of programs (cross-categorical or categorical) devote to indirect services. Looks at how time demands have changed in recent years and analyzes reasons for these changes. (RJM)

Offers a survey and critique of three approaches for increasing family care of elderly people: filial support legislation, incentives for family caregivers, and service-rationing provisions. Results indicate that policies that require or encourage relatives to provide care may have adverse consequences for elderly people and their families. (RJM)

This paper examines the extent to which special needs children are integrated in Manitoba; what the main concerns of the classroom teacher, the special educator, and the child are; and relevant teacher training activities. The possibility of a comprehensive service delivery system is seen as threatened by impending cut-backs in provincial funding.…

This paper describes the distinct strengths and weaknesses of special education in rural schools and discusses issues regarding rural education reform recommendations, such as inadequate resources, parental involvement, and use of rigidly interpreted performance standards. Preventive service delivery systems are recommended, and several policy…

Comparison of primary grade students (n=67) with mild mental retardation in Croatia (Yugoslavia) receiving either a special program designed by special and regular educators, regular class services but no special educational help, occasional special educational help, or special services in a special school found that students in the first group…

Discussion of the growth of telecommunications initiatives in high school instruction in Canada focuses on the Distance Learning in Small Schools pilot project in Alberta. Topics addressed include delivery systems models, teacher response, staffing, concerns about loss of interaction and feedback, design of distance education materials, approaches…

A literature review describes evaluation activities in mental health services in financial, programmatic/clinical, and new constituency areas. Expanding reimbursement for alternative mental health services is offered as a way of developing a formal structure to ensure better utilization of evaluation results. (SLD)

The article addresses such issues as the effects of definition of deaf-blindness on programs and training, the functional interpretation of deaf-blindness, intervention theories, early intervention, the development of residual vision and hearing, and an integrated sensory approach. Recommendations include developing appropriate preservice…

Service providers (n=48 and representing 30 states) for preschool visually impaired children responded to a questionnaire evaluating the number of visually impaired children, source of referral for services, age at referral, visual diagnoses, common additional handicaps, kinds of service delivery models employed, types of teacher certification,…

A meaningful classification for living, work, and education was achieved by grouping 159 persons who were blind or visually impaired into 5 groups ranging from low to high functioning, according to 7 independent living skills: family responsibility; health and hygiene; legal awareness; community awareness; money management; social/interpersonal…