New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) conducted a statewide telephone survey of 531 randomly selected kindergarten through fourth-grade public school teachers to obtain information on how schools prevent and address reading problems. Results indicated that (1) 95% of respondents said remediation should begin at grade 1 or earlier, but less than…

Four years after passage of Public Law 99-457, a survey was conducted of 30 state Part H Coordinators regarding the financing of Part H services. Coordinators were asked to estimate the percentage of the state's total funding that came from each of 44 potential sources for financing the implementation of Part H. Every one of the 44 sources was…

Parents (N=58) of young children with disabilities and their service providers attended 18 focus group sessions where they discussed what services they would choose if given a million dollars to spend on their own service programs. The focus groups were held in nine geographically and demographically diverse communities in Colorado, North…

Since 1984, large-scale, longitudinal, and experimental research on class size has been conducted in Tennessee. Project STAR (Student-Teacher Achievement Ratio) changed in 1989 to the Lasting Benefits Study (LBS) and Project Challenge. In 1985 almost 7,000 students in kindergarten were randomly assigned to either small classes, regular-sized…

This guide shows how principles of functional assessment can be applied to behavior problems of students with mental retardation to identify the behavior's purposes and plan for more effective intervention in classrooms, supported living settings, and work settings. It shows how to conduct a functional assessment and link assessment results to…

A school psychologist becomes indispensable to a school by responding to school needs and becoming and instrumental part of the solution. An essential prerequisite to responding to a need is first identifying it. However, the need identification process is fraught with pitfalls. Immersion into the culture of the school is critical to establishing…

School psychologists have a long and successful history in making themselves indispensable in schools by expanding their roles and their skills to meet the demands of an ever-changing clientele. As the rates of survival of children with a wide spectrum of genetic and neurodevelopmental disorders and acquired injuries and disease affecting the…

Offered as a policy statement rather than as a how-to manual, this program advisory provides the policy direction and instructional guidance needed to support the improvement of reading achievement in California through the development and implementation of a balanced, comprehensive reading program in prekindergarten through grade 3. The first…

This booklet presents information on school-crisis management, based on the work of a New Haven, Connecticut, regional crisis team that was initially created to address the mental-health needs of school children during the Persian Gulf War. The goals of the regional crisis committee were to develop a school-crisis intervention model, train…

This paper examines characteristics of American Indian children, focusing on their similarities with children with learning disabilities. These similarities include: heterogeneity, language problems, concept of time, learned helplessness, locus of control, and discrepancy between potential and achievement. Culturally sensitive prereferral…

This practicum was designed to evaluate the needs of clinicians in identifying substance abuse issues in severely emotionally disturbed children and adolescents, and its dynamics in their family histories. This writer designed and administered pre and post questionnaires to both professional and paraprofessional staff members to evaluate attitude…

In the quest to establish public programs for reducing pregnancy, childbearing, and sexually transmitted diseases among adolescents, much attention has been given to family life education as a piece of the prevention paradigm. Research has shown that family life education that includes accurate and age-appropriate information will increase young…

Due to the increase in the number of non-physical bullying incidents observed by both teachers and administrators throughout the last year at a high-school, students were becoming so intimidated by other students that they were unwilling to even speak up about or report any such incidents to school administrators. A strategy was designed and…

This directory of social programs that focus on the African-American male lists 145 programs grouped by state. Information for each program includes the sponsoring organization and contact person and a brief description of program goals and the target population. The programs deal with a variety of issues, but there is an emphasis on sex education…

This paper synthesizes information about shortages among the professions working with young children with disabilities, birth through age 5, and their families. The paper begins with a look at national data on personnel working in early intervention and preschool special education. Distinctions between the work force in early intervention (Part H…