For a generation, national legislation has moved "vigorously" to compel schools to place students with disabilities in the "least restrictive environment." For students with mild disabilities, this placement usually means including them in general education classrooms and teaching them according to the general curriculum. Over the same period,…

The objective of this study was to refine the Children's Social Behavior Questionnaire (CSBQ), to reduce its length, and to verify its psychometric properties. The CSBQ is a questionnaire for parents or caregivers of children with PDD. The items describe a broad range of features that are typical of PDD, particularly in its milder forms. Based on…

The effect of pull out remediation on grade point average (GPA) was studied with high school students receiving special education services. For 30 students receiving pull out remediation and 30 students not receiving the pull out component, data were collected on semester GPA, student gender, year in school, and type of class (alternate or regular…

This paper proposes that mild learning disability may often be more the result of teaching which ignores individual differences in learning style than the result of psychological processing and/or central nervous system disorders that are characteristic of true learning disabilities. A brief overview of learning disability identification explains…

This study examined differences in belief systems about friendship employed by two groups of students (total n=24) with mild disabilities in a vocational program. Members of one group had a fair number of reciprocal friendships and high satisfaction, whereas members of the other group had few reciprocal friendships and low satisfaction. Individual…

This digest describes a model curriculum for children from language minority groups, called the "Optimal Learning Environment Curriculum--A Resource for Teachers of Spanish Speaking Children in Learning Handicapped Programs." This bilingual special education class model is governed by the following principles: (1) take into account the…

Progress has been made in serving rural students with low-incidence handicaps after the implementation of Public Law 94-142, yet research indicates that this category of students is still the most difficult population to serve. Hence, designing least restrictive environment (LRE) services is crucial in further improving this type of program.…

In a national survey, a total of 1,200 surveys were mailed to school administrators in rural areas in all states. Responses from 312 rural, urban, and suburban school administrators provided estimated percentages of students in 12 high risk categories. Survey data were analyzed by a repeated-measures analysis of variance that considered three…

The study investigated the validity of the process of reevaluating a child's need for continued special education services especially the biasing effects of the teacher's referral statement on the decision of the multidisciplinary team. Psychoeducational profiles describing two children were distributed to 108 multidisciplinary teams in New York…

This volume contains two papers concerning appropriate accommodations that can be made in the areas of grading and granting credits and diplomas for mildly handicapped high school students. The first paper discusses grades for students with disabilities who are mainstreamed in general education classes. It presents seven guiding principles that…

This paper outlines a method for meeting the vocational needs of students with mild disabilities and the instructional demands placed on both teacher and student, without sacrificing time devoted to content areas. By manipulating the existing curriculum and environment, educators can cultivate the skills necessary for success in the working world.…

Five articles examine outdoor experiential learning for the handicapped. Articles have the following titles and authors: "The Minnesota Outward Bound School and the Physically Disabled" (S. Kaplan); "Breaking the Cycle of Failure through Experiential Education" (R. Burton, B. Blakey); "Hiking with Troubled Kids" (K.…

The panel presentation includes three papers describing the development and implementation of two parent oriented intervention programs currently serving low income Black families in Kansas City, Kansas. Both programs are home based and utilize trained community paraprofessionals as parent trainers. One program trains parents of preschool…

The program development guide describes the Fairfax County (Virginia) Noncategorical Early Childhood Program (NECP) which serves approximately 75 mildly and moderately handicapped children from 2 to 8 years of age with either a preschool home resource program, a class based preschool program, or a class based primary program. The guide is designed…

Teacher attitude toward the integration of mildy handicapped students in regular classrooms was studied with 32 successful and 32 unsuccessful students (in grades 3 through 6). Verbal interactions and physical distance were recorded and examined to determine the relationship between students and teachers. Findings indicated that teachers interact…