As this feisty teacher/professor conversation shows, there are no quick fixes for motivating students and maintaining classroom discipline. Teacher education programs should require a comprehensive, teacher-taught course in discipline that includes a full year of student and substitute teaching experience. Professional development schools, team…

A study was conducted of 217 clients with developmental disabilities and behavioral and psychiatric disorders, who had been referred for crisis intervention, to determine what factors predicted their rereferral. Factors included nonfamily residence and self-injurious behavior for those under age 30, and aggression for those over age 30. (CR)

A simulated report of a child referred either for learning disabilities or gifted placement consideration was reviewed by 40 practicing school psychologists. Results indicate that reason for referral resulted in significant levels of bias regarding assessment and recall of the report and classification of the student. (TJH)

Progress toward effective service delivery to young children with handicaps and their families is impeded by lack of coordination at local levels and variations in eligibility requirements and population definitions. A centralized interagency identification/referral program was found to facilitate data utilization for decision-making, interagency…

Four-year colleges and universities (N=184) offering special programs for post-secondary students with learning disabilities were surveyed. Results related to students served, assessment and referral procedures used, academic and nonacademic services offered, and procedures employed for staff training are discussed in this article. (Author)

A total of 951 school psychologists responded to a survey about language learning disabilities and speech/language referral practices. Findings suggest limited training about speech and language disorders and a need to develop greater awareness of appropriate assessment measures among school psychologists. (SLD)

A survey of 277 white, Hispanic, and African-American parents of gifted children found few intergroup differences in either the characteristics that first indicated their child's giftedness or in current attributes of their child. More whites than others, however, requested an evaluation of their child for gifted program placement. (Author/JDD)

These reflections on EC 606 263 (a paper examining the effectiveness of student versus teacher monitoring of behavior of students at risk for referral to special education) examines the development of interest in the topic, acceptability of the interventions to study participants, potential usefulness of the intervention, and evidence of changes…

Regular and special educators (n=192) were assigned a case study describing a student having a learning and/or behavior problem and made a placement decision. Results indicated that regular and special educators were most likely to agree with regular class placement when they were high in both personal efficacy and teaching efficacy. (Author/JDD)

A project designed to facilitate scholarly networking among business administration faculty, thereby contributing to the reputation of colleagues and colleges, used citation analysis to identify invisible college researcher networks and disseminate information about them. Ideas for encouraging networking, including editorial support, journal…

This article discusses components of teacher collaboration, such as working together to prevent learning and behavior problems and to minimize the need for special service referrals; learning to manage the care of students who must be referred; and participating in school-based teams working towards comprehensive integrated, programmatic…

A study found African-American students at a predominantly white university who participated in a freshman peer mentor program were likely to raise concerns with peers as they would not in programs promoting help-seeking. Participants reported promising rates of problem resolution following mentor interventions, had higher two-year retention rates…

Examination of discipline policies and practices in five large Scottish schools led to the development of a model of a schoolwide behavior support system. Elements include school discipline policy, classroom techniques and strategies, referrals, behavior monitoring, support groups, joint assessment teams, and mechanisms for student suspension and…

This study demonstrates the utility of integrating birth certificate record data with an existing disability-tracking database for the purpose of evaluating early identification efforts. The authors examined referral rates of preschool-age children for several known disability risk factors. Low birthweight, low maternal education, and prematurity…

Objective: To examine the reliability and validity of the 66-item Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders-Revised (SCARED-R), a questionnaire for measuring a broad range of DSM-defined anxiety disorder symptoms, in a sample of clinically referred youths. Method: The SCARED-R was administered to children/adolescents and their parents…