This paper outlines a model of interprofessional assistance and mentoring used to orient new staff members in a special education program. The mentoring model calls for three basic dispositions: opening ourselves, leading incrementally, and expressing care and concern. All mentors attempt to manifest the three dispositions as they relate to the…

An approach to teaching particularly well-suited to communication courses seeks to involve students in the learning process more directly by incorporating team teaching in communication courses--not by professors but by students. Groups of students in each class form into teams with the purpose of setting goals and planning projects for furthering…

This paper describes co-teaching as a collaborative, equal relationship between a regular classroom teacher and a special educator which allows for meeting the needs of a greater number of students with disabilities within a single regular classroom program. The co-teaching relationship is thought to develop through a series of three stages: (1)…

Interdisciplinary middle school level teams capitalize on the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Administrators and team members can maximize the advantages of teamwork using team assessments to increase the benefits for students, teachers, and the school environment. Assessing team performance can lead to high performing…

This book explains how to use whole-faculty study groups to get the entire teaching staff working together on one set of organizational goals. Chapter 1 discusses the school reform environment and the potential of whole-faculty study groups to serve as a major change process for improving schools and student learning. Chapter 2 describes the…

"Imaginization" is a type of organizational thinking designed to help managers cope with a turbulent world. A full discussion of this process is presented here. The text shows how managers can develop capacities of imaginization, but the overall purpose of the book is to help administrators develop their creative abilities. Its 13 chapters…

This guide defines assistive technology as specialized hardware and software equipment used by students with disabilities to increase their ability to participate in tasks of learning and daily living and function as independently as possible. Types of assistive technology are listed, and information resources about assistive technology are noted.…

Rural and urban elementary schools implemented collaborative consultation to serve special education students. In the rural school, the special education teacher spends 4 days per week in the classrooms. She spends Wednesdays and 1 week out of 5 testing, writing IEPs, planning, and completing paperwork. The principal, instructional assistant, TAG…

Incorporating school-site management into the nation's educational systems will demand wholesale changes involving the very structure and organization of schools. Aimed at practitioners desiring to implement school-based management (SBM), this book is organized into chapters designed to enhance the sequential phases of application. Chapter 1…

This handbook aims to help parents of emotionally disabled children and professionals serving emotionally disabled children to put the concept of collaboration into practice, to understand the barriers to collaboration, and to develop strategies to overcome those barriers and promote a working partnership. Factors that may influence or inhibit the…

Suggestions are offered to help disabled persons who need a communication system or computer to select the appropriate equipment. The importance of conducting a product evaluation during the process of selecting and adapting a computer is stressed. The role of various evaluation team members in performing product evaluations is described,…

A strategy for increasing worker participation in an effort to remedy the problems of declining productivity and quality is the quality circles concept. The quality circles process involves small groups of employees who meet voluntarily on a regular basis to identify, analyze, and develop solutions to problems and to implement the solutions when…

In North Carolina, physical therapy services for handicapped students are integrated into school settings via a coordinated statewide effort. The model, headed by a physical therapy consultant, provides flexibility, supports an expanded role of therapists, emphasizes the team approach, and considers the physical therapist as a health professional.…

The Team-Assisted Individualization (TAI) mathematics program has been developed in an attempt to make individualized instruction workable in the classroom by adding components of cooperative learning. This paper presents the rationale for the development of TAI and describes results of three field experiments conducted to assess the effect of TAI…

The planning and development of interdisciplinary education for health associates at Johns Hopkins University are described by Malcolm L. Peterson. (Includes training of an interdisciplinary team of practitioners by an interdisciplinary team of teachers.) Walter O. Spitzer compares Canadian and U.S. experience in such interdisciplinary education…