Analyzes the application of levels of deficits or supports in the classification of mental retardation in published research. Analysis of data from three professional journals indicated that the supports model of classification has had no significant impact in subject descriptions reported in mental-retardation research. Implications for teacher…

Discusses how the Guckenberger v Boston University case illustrates the interaction of the psychometrics of ability differences with the concept of learning disability and with the sociopolitics of schooling and society. Urges a more inclusive definition of learning disability which abandons aptitude-achievement discrepancy requirements and a more…

Introduces this special issue on how educators in various countries facilitate creative thinking in their students. Notes that some of the articles contain information or examples demonstrating originality, flexibility, or important personality traits that contribute to creativity, such as risk-taking, and that others address the need for…

This response to Mahoney et al. (EC 623 392) by a faculty/researcher, a practitioner, and a parent of a child with disabilities, suggests that the term "parent education" be eliminated from the early-intervention lexicon. These four perspectives agree that the term is belittling to parents and does not offer any particular benefits to trainers,…

Stresses the importance of common understandings of cost definitions and data collection in order to create reliable databases with optimal utility for inter-institutional analysis. Examines definitions of common expenditure categories, discusses cost-accumulation rules governing financial reporting, and explains differences between direct costs…

This study compared 23 children with high-functioning autism with 12 children with Asperger syndrome using DSM-IV diagnostic criteria. Findings indicated few group differences in current functioning but many early history differences. The Asperger syndrome group generally demonstrated less severe early symptoms, a milder developmental course, and…

Discusses what children with developmental language disorders should be called, how they should be defined, and how we might differentiate children with specific language impairments from other children with developmental language disorders. The lack of congruence between clinical and research constructs is discussed. (Author/CR)

Notes that along with adding new technologies for literacy, and changing the ways in which older technologies are used, users also create literacies that are hybrids of existing practices. Lists electronic journals concerned with adolescent and adult literacy and includes a nine-item glossary. (RS)

Asks a spate of questions about the nature of research and boundaries of identification. Points to numerous ambiguities inherent in the research prescriptions of critical postmodernism writers. Suggests the miasma that the many implications of postmodernist injunctions about identity and representation can become. (DSK)

A longitudinal study of the influence of education on children's ability to define and explain astronomical concepts was conducted with 20 students aged 10 and 11. At 2 months after the lessons, students recalled the explanations they were taught, but 4 years later they provided only everyday and inaccurate explanations. (SLD)

Presents results of a study on the speech act of definition in chemistry texts within two genres investigating whether or not it can serve as a criterion to differentiate the two genres. A random sample of 60 texts written by different writers served as the corpus of the study. Results suggest that definitions often cluster together in textbooks,…

Reviews major methods, and their theoretical underpinnings, for the definition and measurement of sexual orientations, highlighting their limitations and pitfalls, both practical and conceptual. Cautions against increasing politicization of this area. Makes recommendations toward measurement concerns with adolescent populations. Details a specific…

A survey of 188 Saskatchewan educational administrators and 20 interviews examined administrators' a priori definitions of "ethical." Definitions focused on external versus internal sources of ethical authority and on behavioral versus rational constructs and were often concerned with the reflection and alignment of community values and…

Describes an innovative values education program at a suburban New Jersey high school. The ABCD program's premise is that teachers and students must know themselves before they can benefit from a school's educational and teaching experiences. The pilot project, which emphasized self-awareness training, showed that ninth graders could understand…

Provides and supports a definition of public relations as behavior with a mode explaining the difficulty of achieving each behavior and the cost to organizations when the behavior is not achieved. Draws from the literature on ethics, rhetorical theory, public relations management, case studies, and from observation and experience to support this…