This study explores children's attitudes toward individuals with special needs in Greece and in the United States. A total of 196 kindergarten-age children participated in the study. Children's attitudes were examined using the "Acceptance Scale for Kindergartners-Revised" (ASK-R) and were further explored with the use of an open-ended…

Discusses issues related to working with young children with autism for elementary school teachers. Describes characteristics of autism, the need for early intervention, and the general principles for effective practices with autistic students, and classroom adaptations. Includes a list of organizations concerned with autism. (JPB)

This study examined visual information processing and learning in classrooms including both deaf and hearing students. Of particular interest were the effects on deaf students' learning of live (three-dimensional) versus video-recorded (two-dimensional) sign language interpreting and the visual attention strategies of more and less experienced…

Do seemingly motivated students with learning disabilities work hard in general education classes only to receive lower grades than their peers? Donahoe and Zigmond (1990) found that 60-70% of students with learning disabilities passed their mainstreaming classes but received a below-average (below a C-) grade. A similar finding was reported by…

Increasing numbers of students with disabilities receive a majority of their formal education in general education settings where they must be taught the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to lead fully equitable and participatory lives in a democratic society. Given the need for all students to acquire civic understanding, the purpose of…

Designing preservice teacher education partially around voluntary study groups offers teacher educators a unique chance to examine group members' perspectives and understandings. This article examines the topics of concern and questions expressed by six general education student teachers in a collaborative dialogue group focused on inclusive…

Borrowing from epidemiological and economic analysis, we argue that the central constructs by which children are judged educationally rest in contrastive judgements and that such judgements are based on "everyday" constructs--not objective descriptors. But because these everyday constructs become seemingly objectified by the procedures and…

Secondary research or archival research is the analysis of data collected by another person or agency. It offers several advantages, including reduced cost, a less time-consuming research process, and access to larger populations and thus greater generalizability. At the same time, it offers several limitations, including the fact that the…

Asperger Syndrome (AS) is a developmental disorder characterized by poor social skills and restricted interests, but also by extensive knowledge in specific areas and an extensive vocabulary, thereby giving college students with AS specific abilities that are desirable in academe. In fact, young individuals with AS are often referred to as "little…

Inclusive education policies constitute the contemporary legislative response to the education of disabled children. They can be viewed as the antidote to the historical imperatives of special education thinking, which were responsible for the disparagement and exclusion of disabled children. However, despite the extolling rhetorical proclamations…

This paper emerges from an ongoing study which involved, firstly, key informant interviews with strategic personnel within the Irish education system, such personnel representing both service providers and service users. The first part of this paper provides a brief summary of the findings of that aspect of the study in relation to the key…

The study examined attitudes toward school inclusion of students with disabilities of 1,145 prospective teacher trainees from six national/religious groups in eleven colleges in Israel: The groups were secular, religious and ultra-orthodox Jews and Muslim, Christian and Druze Arabs. Participants responded to the "Opinion Related to Inclusion…

The current UK agenda for modernization of schools places great emphasis on the reconsideration of the roles and boundaries of teaching and support staff. Internationally there is a significant move towards the inclusion of all children within a mainstream setting as an undeniable right. This carries great implications for staff in mainstream…

With the provisions of both the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA 1997 and 2004), educators must ensure that all students have the opportunity to participate and progress in the general curriculum. These requirements are further bolstered by the No…

This paper focuses primarily on the methodological considerations of a study investigating the interactions of pairs of disabled and non-disabled children working together on computer-based tasks, in mainstream primary schools in Cyprus. Twenty dyads of pupils (each pair comprising a disabled child and a non-disabled peer), were observed and…