The paper provides guidelines on inservice educational needs of regular education teachers in the area of identifying and referring handicapped children. Educators need to look at solutions for the hard-to-teach child other than referral to special education, such as using specialists to assist regular teachers, clarifying the roles of regular and…

In a study which investigated whether there was bias in assigning students to special educational services, 199 teachers from different ethnic backgrounds responded to a specially constructed case history in which the ethnic background of the student was varied, by indicating whether they felt the youngster could be maintained in a classroom, or…

Nine papers review procedures used by Head Start programs to solicit and coordinate community resources. The first article describes a seven step approach to using resources in a rural area, while the second paper identifies types of available specialists and suggests where they can be located. Suggestions of other programs for enlisting the help…

A system in which the function of the library is to acquire, store, and organize materials is proposed which separates the reference function into a group of subject specialists backed up by computerized information retrieval systems. This division of labor is caused by the scientific community's need for access to graphic and other specific (not…

Describes referrals for family therapy by school counselors. Discusses the referral process, nature of family therapy, pitfalls in the referral process, and guidelines for successful referrals. Concludes counselors can avoid many pitfalls by an appreciation of the interactional nature of the referral process. (ABL)

The article encourages using alternative instructional strategies with minority students prior to special education referral, and describes five direct instruction practices including the DISTAR model, the model developed by the Exemplary Center for Reading Instruction, precision teaching, class-wide peer tutoring, and the Adaptive Learning…

Describes tactics to improve the effectiveness of referrals to helping services outside the school. Presents guidelines on when, who, and how to refer, and suggests that counselors examine their own attitudes toward referral. (JAC)

Systematic observation of four elementary students at time of referral and one and two months after special education placement revealed considerable variability among students in amount of academic time allocated and engaged in. Changes in instruction and student responding as a function of special education intervention were inconsistent across…

Students (N=147) referred for special education evaluation by curriculum-based and traditional methods were compared. Numbers referred through each method were similar. Academic achievement was almost the sole criterion in teacher referral and Ss referred through weekly achievement measurements were as likely as teacher referred Ss to demonstrate…

Data generated from a survey of 1,637 school personnel indicated that only 31 percent of the suspected abuse cases and 30 percent of the suspected neglect cases were ever reported. Personal biases and myths were rationales offered for not reporting in 68 percent of the comments. (Author/CL)

Analysis of teacher ratings, referral, and special education placement data on 74 hyperactive and 101 control Ss revealed that hyperactive Ss were more likely to be served by special education than control Ss. Aggression among hyperactive but not control Ss was associated with receiving services. (CL)

Describes the impact of the Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime (TASC) program, designed to identify criminal offenders with drug problems and refer them for treatment. Despite an increase in size and changes in client characteristics, the influx of TASC-referred drug abusers did not decrease program effectiveness. (JAC)

In an effort to assist early childhood professionals to better understand special education practices and procedures in New York State that might affect classroom environment, this paper presents an account of one teacher's search for help with a special needs preschooler. Following a year in which only one-on-one instruction with the boy yielded…

The results indicated that the name given to the counseling service had a significant effect on the problems students felt were appropriate for referral. A Counseling Center was perceived by the students as offering a wider variety of counseling services than either a Guidance Center or a Psychological Services Center. (Auhtor)

Described is the Educational Services Center in Granville, New York, which provides diagnosis, prescriptive planning, and evaluation of students referred for learning problems from four school districts. (KW)