A 3-month practicum utilized teacher workshops and biweekly consultation to provide all fourth grade teachers (N=11) in a public school district with higher level questioning strategies to meet gifted students' cognitive needs. A total of six fourth grade students were identified as gifted and talented. At the workshops, higher level questioning…

Collaboration between bilingual education and regular classroom teachers, drawing on research and experience in special education. Several models for consultation used in special education are outlined: process consultation, used to help the teacher clarify student needs and develop solutions through a prescribed set of activities; the…

This practicum sought to reduce the number of inappropriate referrals to a rural school system's Special Education Department from the private sector, by increasing the private sector's knowledge of eligibility criteria for learning disability services. A school social worker conducted individualized consultations with clinicians in the private…

The paper describes application of an interactive model to providing services for young children with special needs being mainstreamed in community day care programs. In this model, the resource consultant coordinates service delivery in interactions with: (1) the child and family; (2) early childhood educators; and (3) resource specialists. The…

This paper presents a rationale for and description of psychological services in the areas of consultation and education for university dental students at the University of Mississippi School of Dentistry. The paper notes several factors pointing to the need for such services: first, while dental professionals and students are disinclined to seek…

Five self-selected triads of Western Australia (W.A.) principals served as process consultants to improve their schools. Patterns of communication, leadership procedures, tensions impeding collaboration, decision-making, and problem-solving procedures were the foci of attention. The strategy asked each consultant pair (in turn) to clarify their…

A collection of materials for the training of special education resource specialists are presented as the first of four volumes. The materials pertain to California legislation, coordination, inservice programs, consultation, instruction, and career-vocational education. After reviewing provisions of Assembly Bill 777 and Senate Bills 1870 and…

A day care director of a center sponsored by a metropolitan medical center designed and implemented a practicum study to address the lack of a system for identifying and assessing high-risk children. The practicum was also intended to develop a program which would respond to teachers' concerns for children with special needs and obtain positive…

A shortage of occupational therapists as well as fiscal constraints have made it difficult to meet the legal mandate under Public Law 94-142 (Education for All Handicapped Children Act) that occupational therapy be provided as a related service to handicapped children when needed to enable them to benefit from special education programs. A review…

Home-based consultations about homework were conducted over a 12-week period with nine families of elementary students with mild handicaps to determine the extent to which consultations increased academic responding time, and to document home and school factors that contribute to work incompletion problems. The intervention was implemented by…

This newsletter theme issue looks at infant day care models including those emphasizing early intervention with special needs infants. The lead article, "Infants in Day Care: Reflections on Experiences, Expectations and Relationships," by Jeree H. Pawl, stresses the importance of understanding infants' and toddlers' capacities and needs in…

After a year of research and planning, Troy State University's Writing-Across-the-Curriculum program began in winter quarter of 1988. Program proponents believe that: (1) writing is a powerful tool for learning, and (2) the instructor in a discipline can best teach the kinds of writing, research, and documentation pertinent to his field.…

This practicum was designed to improve the quality of psychological referrals from private schools to the public school system by establishing a consultative conference procedure. The primary purpose of the conference was to establish open communication between teachers and the school psychologist and to provide more immediate psychoeducational…

A study explored the effects on both students and teachers of an alternative service delivery model (different from the traditional removal approach) for serving both low-achieving and learning-disabled (LD) students. The process-consultation model was chosen as the topic of this study. To its usual in-class team approach was added a focus on…

The study examined the preferences of 701 regular elementary teachers and 65 special education resource teachers for four school-based consultation models (collaborative, expert, medical, and mental health). Each model was assessed at each of five stages of the consultation process; (1) consultant goal; (2) problem identification; (3) intervention…