The report presents recommendations of a commission for improving special education in New York City. The commission conducted interviews with over 300 persons, held 2 days of public hearings, and reviewed documents, publications, and laws and documents in New York and eight other states. Recommendations are offered for four major topic areas: (1)…

Regular educators need to develop skills to work collaboratively with specialists in meeting the special needs of young children in the mainstreamed classroom. These skills include: (1) developing a common knowledge base; (2) using effective interpersonal strategies; (3) using a problem solving approach related to individual and classroom…

The study, involving 119 academically handicapped third, fourth, and fifth graders, examined the effects of an instructional method (Team-Assisted Individualization) that combines cooperative learning with individualized learning in mathematics. Previous studies have found that the use of cooperative learning instructional processes can improve…

This handbook, prepared by the Barrier Resolution Project in the state of Washington, includes specific instructions, materials, and checklists of equipment necessary for an outside facilitator to assist in the development of cooperative problem solving and planning related to special education. After introductory material including "keys to…

The annotated bibliography examines parental involvement in special education. Citations are presented and information examined for eight topic areas: (1) legal rights, (2) theoretical models, (3) parental-school relations, (4) mainstreaming, (5) training, (6) counseling, (7) consumer perspectives, and (8) bibliographies. Entries include general…

A profoundly deaf young mother describes her thoughts and feelings about deafness in general and her own deafness at 6 years of age as a result of mumps. (MC)

A cooperative approach to mainstreaming between a school for the deaf and a nearby regional Occupational Education Center of the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) in New York State was investigated in four programs representing local variations of this model for partial mainstreaming. Three distinct periods of the mainstreaming…

Participants in an inservice workshop (n=121) and a graduate course in teaching the young handicapped (n=271) were surveyed concerning their perceptions of community attitudes toward the handicapped, the support school systems will provide for implementing P.L. 94-142 (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act), and the current level of…

Presented is the teacher handbook developed as part of Project TEAM (Teacher Encouragement to Activate Mainstreaming) to improve attitudes and skills of regular secondary teachers working with educable mentally handicapped or educationally handicapped students. Sections of the handbook include an introduction, a brief consideration of classroom…

Measured were attitudes toward handicapped children of 387 regular classroom teachers, and compared was knowledge of program placements for handicapped children held by 29 regular school administrative personnel in Canada and 35 special education "experts" from the U.S. The administrators and teachers completed The Rucker-Gable…

The Comprehensive Developmental Teams (CDT) program, a multidisciplinary approach to improving Head Start services to handicapped children is described. Reviewed are the team's tasks--to identify, screen, and assess the children's strengths and weaknesses in order to develop comprehensive programs of intervention, including provision of individual…

As part of a project to develop an inservice teacher education program, teacher competencies critical to working with handicapped children were identified. Five competencies were selected which include flexibility in carrying out instructional program, sensitivity to and acceptance of individual differences in children, and individualizing…

Described is Project IMPACT in Berrien County, Michigan, designed to develop and implement a flexible instructional model for training classroom teachers in techniques and procedures to meet the needs of mainstreamed children having learning and adjustment problems. (IM)

The Norfolk/Chesapeake Teacher Corps Project developed a special component which focused on helping teachers and interns become sensitive to the needs of exceptional children and on helping them master competencies required to individualize instruction in the regular classroom for children without severe handicaps. (Author/JA)