A systems approach to educating autistic students which is employed as a working model in Dallas (Texas) incorporates individual needs within the context of the family and educational environments. Early childhood, elementary, and secondary issues are delineated in the three major areas of communication, socialization, and independent functioning.…

Describes the Amigos Program at Maynard School, Cambridge, MA, a two-way bilingual education program. Success of the program and efforts at equal education result from teamwork between desegregation and bilingual education officers and the following elements: (1) site; (2) funding; (3) evaluation; (4) racial balance; and (5) parent support. (PS)

Legislation in 1977 strengthened the role of school councils, comprised of teachers, parents, and students, in South Carolina to increase community and parent participation in schools. Accomplishments achieved and obstacles encountered by school councils are discussed. Aspects of effective councils are identified. (BJV)

Twenty mentally retarded individuals placed in competitive employment were compared to a matched group in sheltered workshop settings concerning their quality of life. The competitively employed individuals experienced greater advancement; improved hand strength and weight control; and increased community participation, social vocational skills,…

Affective reading instruction teaches mildly handicapped children to read by improving their attitudes toward reading through oral and silent reading of children's literature. The paper outlines steps involved in program implementation, reading activities used in conjunction with skill training, parent involvement, use of extrinsic rewards,…

Promotes the use of a practicum technique in which senior engineering level students work on typical company problems in a laboratory setting. Offers suggestions on how to solicit and organize such a university-industry course. (RT)

Ninety-two parents of disabled infants and preschoolers were surveyed to identify parents' concerns regarding their children's transition into San Francisco public preschool special education programs and to determine what information and services were most helpful. Parent concerns included lack of information about school district services and…

Urges education systems and schools to make special efforts to inform and work with parents in the establishment of a literacy assessment program so that children with special needs in literacy could receive as much attention as those who achieve. (NKA)

Describes an experimental course in communication offered to nonnative English-speaking pharmacists at the University of Maryland and reports the results of an evaluation of the course. The course was team-taught by a pharmacist specializing in communication for pharmacists and by an English-as-a-second-language specialist. (Author/SED)

Reviews research on the effects of the educational application of computers on student social-emotional development and details a study which examined the effects of two computer environments--computer assisted instruction and Logo--on six specific components of social-emotional competence (initiation and participation, social problem-solving,…

A study of 100 geographers during their first year of full-time college teaching revealed that the teachers had difficulty in achieving their educational goals. The worst areas of performance by the new teachers included knowing how to stimulate students to high intellectual effort and changing teaching methods as appropriate. (RM)

Because schools, communities, and families play interconnected roles in the crucial mission of educating children, they must find ways to work together as educational partners. Providing parents with information and resources to support their children's education is a cornerstone of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). This sourcebook is based on…

"Focus on Basics" is the quarterly publication of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy. It presents best practices, current research on adult learning and literacy, and how research is used by adult basic education teachers, counselors, program administrators, and policymakers. "Focus on Basics" is…

The purpose of this study was to discover ways in which a music educator can incorporate students with special needs in a music classroom. Music educators seek ways to manage and incorporate these students in the classroom environment. The research question guiding this action research study was: how are students with special needs incorporated in…

This paper describes and analyzes the Donors' Education Collaborative's (DEC) initiative to create sustainable systemic reform of New York City public education through projects that combined policy change strategies with efforts to develop permanent, broad-based constituencies advocating for and monitoring such reform. Based largely on field…