Four mothers of children (ages 10-18) with learning disabilities were interviewed over a 1-year period. Their comments about services provided by educational and mental health professionals indicated high levels of frustration and dissatisfaction. Parental expectations and perspectives differed from those of educators. (Author/JDD)

Interviews and biographical sketches of 16 minority students and teachers of German at 3 universities and 1 school district are reported. The process of acquiring the language and becoming familiar with a foreign culture unites these individuals of otherwise diverse ethnicity, background, and experience. (Author/LB)

Describes a study at the California State University at Chico library that was conducted to determine the success of the ERIC database on CD-ROM as a retrieval tool. The results of user interviews are summarized, surveys of reference librarians are reviewed, and cost considerations are examined. (three references) (LRW)

A computer-administered version of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale was administered to 31 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, 16 with other anxiety disorders, and 23 nonpatient controls. The computer version correlated highly with the clinician-administered version and was well understood and liked by subjects. (SLD)

An approach is offered for U.S. high school students to speak German in the world of business. With the help of a Hamburg-based business, students learned how to read German classified ads, to discuss qualifications and personal characteristics required for specific jobs, and to write narrative job descriptions. (Author/LB)

Explores ways to improve the capability of the National Center for Health Statistics to collect national health data on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Standardized interview instruments and data collection procedures offer the possibility of capitalizing on the geographic distribution of these populations in the United States. (SLD)

Discusses the dualism of literacy and education as an individual possession and communally embedded commodity within many segments of the African-American community, drawing on information from 25 adults. Literacy is an ever-changing continuous activity shaped by cultural and community beliefs about the price of education and rewards of learning.…

Interviews with the five 1992 winners of the national Student Humanitarian Service Awards focus on motivation for public service, relationship with the community, compulsory student service requirements, student recruitment, faculty recruitment, and personal development. (DB)

Inappropriate communicative strategies and their effects are assessed using information collected in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) from counselor-patient interaction in pre- and posttest AIDS counseling. Inappropriateness was assessed by the disruption in conversational turn-taking sequences shown by overlap and shifts in communication format.…

Reports on a process/product study undertaken to increase understanding of the nature of language instruction and its effect on language proficiency. Also discussed are a number of pedagogical issues arising from the study. (30 references)

Reviews information on American Indian dropouts. Surveyed 991 American Indian women, aged 17-36; found no simple formula for school success or dropping out. However, an important factor in the lives of women who completed high school or college was the support of their families, particularly mothers and grandmothers. Contains 56 references. (SV)

Argues that assessment in early childhood special education needs to go beyond diagnosis of the child in isolation and include evaluation of the child using an ecological perspective. Three aspects of ecological early childhood assessment are discussed: (1) the family interview; (2) the evaluation of adult-child learning styles; and (3)…

Opinions of professionals from 16 agencies were obtained to identify techniques that agencies serving adults or adolescents with mental retardation could utilize to provide systematic sex education and counseling. Recommendations are offered in five areas: self-advocacy and self-determination, individual design, staff training and support,…

An interview with Guy Roy, adjunct minister of education and professional education in Manitoba (Canada), explores the role of French, French language instruction, and French-language education outside Quebec Province, and specifically in Manitoba. Issues discussed include language and cultural maintenance, immersion education, language attitudes,…

Examines some of the ways in which young children learn about aspects of economics and industry, and discusses some of the reasons that have been advanced in the United Kingdom for the encouragement of this learning. (MDM)