This article discusses preliminary research results that indicate placement of children (n=216) with emotional/behavioral difficulties into a Nurture Group has a positive effect on a significant proportion of pupils. There is also evidence that the parents of children in Nurture Groups benefit from the positive progress made by their children.…

Recounts the experience of a parent of a special needs child attending an early child care center that embraces inclusion. Describes: (1) the search for a center; (2) her child's experience at school; (3) making inclusion possible; and (4) integration of all the parts. Asserts that all the children in the center benefit from inclusion. (SD)

Australian elementary teachers (n=571) in whose classrooms children with moderate or severe intellectual disabilities were included were surveyed. Sources of stress included their perceived competence, their concern that the education of the majority of students not be affected, and the behavior of the child with disabilities. (SK)

Many school systems are moving toward an inclusion model for teaching special learners in which all students are included in general classrooms. The basic premise is that all students should first be placed in the general classroom. Students receive as many necessary supplementary aids and services as possible in the general classroom, and then,…

As a field, special education presents an excellent case study of the paradox of differentiation and integration, wherein we seek solutions through increased specialization but, in so doing, we redefine a problem in terms of discrete parts at the expense of the whole. As Thomas Skrtic pointed out more than a decade ago, a large and ever-widening…

Collaboration as a cornerstone of effective school inclusion is an idea that has high theoretical currency among many scholars in the areas of special education and educational leadership. The challenge for educational practitioners is to find ways to implement high-quality special education programs collaboratively amid the public call for school…

Providing appropriate programs for young children with disabilities is a priority of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 (IDEA), recently reauthorized as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004. The IDEIA requires that programs be provided in natural or least restrictive environments, and…

The role of the speech-language pathologist (SLP) has developed considerably over the last 10 years given the medical and technological advances in life-sustaining procedures. Over time, children born with congenital, surgical, or "medically fragile" conditions have become mainstreamed into regular school-based settings, thus extending…

Assisting children with delays and disabilities to develop skills that will maximise their chances of success in regular education classrooms has become important with the trend to inclusion. This study examined (1) the essential skills for successful integration nominated by teachers, (2) the relationships between teacher perception and child…

Traces an autistic boy's steps through the school day and examines the impact of the federal inclusion mandate on children with disabilities. States that the first step toward implementing inclusion properly is to improve the training of teachers, and that the goals and effectiveness of inclusion must be determined by each child's individual…

Within the last decade, the government of Cyprus has encouraged and supported the education of children assessed as having special needs into the mainstream educational system. With the existing arrangements, however, many pupils who experience difficulties within schools (and many of those are pupils who have been integrated from special schools)…

The author's work as a professor for special and inclusive education in the eastern part of Germany kindled a special interest for Canada for two reasons. First, the result of the international comparative study of students assessment showed Canada as one of the top countries and Germany as one of the countries far behind. Second, the author's…

This paper draws on research which took an auto/biographical and narrative approach in order to investigate mainstream teachers' and teaching assistants' experiences and understandings of inclusion. Throughout the 2003/04 academic year, three researchers made three visits to one primary and one secondary school to talk with individuals and groups.…

In this article Teresa Whitehurst and Amy Howells describe how pupils and staff from mainstream and special settings worked together on a project, resulting in a musical performance. They demonstrate at the outset that, even after several decades of integration and then inclusion, there remains an attitudinal hurdle to overcome. Mainstream pupils…

This article relates case histories of basic writing programs at regional campuses in Florida, and the perceived need to incorporate concerns of social class into basic writing curriculum. Attention to class helps scholars identify institutional patterns that distance basic writing from the university's mainstream business. This author describes a…