This article discusses the increasing incidence of cortical visual impairments, resulting from medical advancements making possible the survival of critically ill children with severe brain damage. Discussed are the prevalence of multiple handicaps, formation of visual concepts, foreground/background distinction, potential for mainstreaming, use…

For the past four years the Gallaudet University Child Development Center (which provides day care services for normal-hearing preschool children of university students and employees) and the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (which serves hearing-impaired children from infancy through middle school) have cooperated in developing an…

A study of five autistic children in a segregated preschool, five mainstreamed autistic children, and four nonhandicapped, integrated peers found that all of the groups made better than normative progress in language development. There were no significant differences in changes in language ability between segregated and mainstreamed autistic…

Due to an error made in printing Professor Zirkel's "Special Education Law; Recent Developments" in Volume 48 (October 13, 1988), these updates to the article are printed. Citations are organized under the following major sections: (1) diagnosis and placement; (2) treatment issues; (3) financial issues; and (4) gifted students. (MLF)

Described are efforts to integrate special and regular elementary-level students from two separate but adjacent facilities. Three years after the special school's opening, observational data and questionnaires revealed almost total segregation. Subsequently, an intensive intervention program generated promising, short-term movement toward…

The article describes a two-year learning strategies program for ninth and tenth grade learning-disabled students which involves four tutorial periods and four learning strategy classes per week, and team teaching of strategy development in mainstream classes. The program has fostered independence and generalization of learned strategies to…

The article responds to a criticism (EC 221 612) of a previous article by the authors (EC 212 323) and suggests the criticism is biased. They note the fallacy of value-free research, reject the allegation that their bias guided their research, and identify points of agreement and disagreement with the criticism. (DB)

The McGill Action Planning System (MAPS) is a planning process for furthering the integration of children with disabilities into the school community, using a team which includes the individual, family members, friends, and regular and special education personnel. Examples of MAPS planning for elementary-age and secondary-age children with severe…

Fifty-three parents of children with educable mental handicaps, behavioral disorders, and learning disabilities completed a questionnaire on the types and numbers of program modifications needed to persuade them to accept full-time mainstreaming for their elementary-level children. Parents' specific mainstreaming recommendations are discussed…

A British study of mainstreamed and special needs classes for older adults found that the special education approach encourages a narrow perspective of aging and an emphasis on disability. At Simon Fraser University, a certificate program for senior citizens determined that seniors like age-integrated classes and instructors need training in…

Although this study's results favored heterogeneous over homogeneous ability grouping in mainstreamed, middle school classrooms, each arrangement produced desirable and less desirable outcomes. Instructional success can probably be realized by using either approach, so long as off-task and other liabilities can be effectively counteracted.…

This article briefly explores major arguments of the debate on the merger of regular and special education and examines barriers that make rational discussion of the issue difficult. Lessons learned from the struggle for mainstreaming are outlined, in order to guide changes in teacher education that would promote merger. (Author/JDD)

The article describes three aspects of classroom-based service delivery to children with speech or language impairments: (1) how classroom-based delivery developed within speech-language pathology; (2) types of classroom-based models; and (3) issues attending classroom-based intervention. (Author/DB)

This paper analyzes a project approved by the Spanish government in 1985 to integrate special needs children into regular education. Outlined are characteristics of the Spanish educational system, parameters of practice in the integration project, and plans for the systematic evaluation of the integration project. (Author/JDD)

The study designed and validated an instructional sequence to promote the generalization of learning strategies to improve written expression acquired in remedial settings to mainstream settings. The article delineates elements necessary to promote generalization of skills with learning disabled populations. (Author/DB)