Whenever possible, handicapped children are to be brought into schools with normal children. However, specialized facilities are needed as well. Design requirements for specialized facilities and recent research findings on the effects of the environment on behavior and attitude are topics covered in 12 entries in an annotated bibliography and six…

This study was designed to determine if special elementary students could learn basic science concepts. Students included the physically handicapped, emotionally disturbed, educable mentally retarded, and trainables. Modules with pretest and posttest were used. Results indicated that regardless of handicap, students were able to work successfully…

A case study explores the attitudes, opinions, and concerns of the parents of a cerebral palsied adolescent (as well as the views of the affected public and private school administrators) concerning the decision to allow their son to move from a private to a public high school environment. (JW)

Results of the Nowicki Locus of Control Scale indicated that the instrument did not differentiate between mildly handicapped Australian children with cerebral palsy (N=85) integrated into regular schools and their nondisabled peers (N=1391) nor was it a significant correlate of academic or social performance for the target group. (Author/CB)

Forty-six intermediate grade students expressed their attitudes toward an unknown mentally retarded student presented in a videotape, and indicated their social acceptance, rejection, or neglect of a mentally retarded peer in their classroom. Children's attitudes toward the videotaped child were related to their sociometric choices of the retarded…

Fourteen mildly handicapped (learning-disabled or behavior-disordered) and 36 nondisabled students in grade 10 social studies classrooms participated in a classwide peer tutoring program. Performance on weekly tests was significantly improved; 60 percent of all students earned "A" grades, and failing grades were virtually eliminated. (Author/JDD)

In simulated cases, the placement decisions of professionals serving hearing-impaired students were compared to the decisions of members of New York's Committees on the Handicapped, both as committees and as subgroups of administrators, psychologists, special education teachers, or parents. Results showed that the groups placed relatively…

This paper discusses the historical development of schooling for deaf children in Sweden, providing statistical information and describing special schools for deaf pupils, efforts to integrate hearing-impaired children into the regular school system, Swedish research on early training of deaf children, and current efforts to improve education of…

For primary and secondary schools, the evidence concerning the effects of streaming (grouping by overall ability) and mixed-ability grouping is inconclusive. Many have concluded that there is no difference between the two systems in their effect on academic progress, social adjustment, attitudes toward school, or friendship patterns. (RM)

A parent describes how presenting information on what it is like to have a disability to his son's teacher and fifth grade classmates helped his Down Syndrome son to adjust to a new school and achieve acceptance. The success of this strategy should encourage other parents to make comparable efforts. (JC)

Study results indicate that positive social interactions between nonhandicapped and handicapped students in the integrated music classroom, with increases in nonhandicapped students' acceptance of handicapped students, are not a result of music classroom experiences and music instruction alone, but also of the degree to which teaching conditions…

Schools in Oxfordshire (England) are gradually moving toward integrating special needs students into regular classrooms and relying on a resource room model to provide extra services. While evolutionary change has minimized certain problems, the lack of overall policy direction has led to some problems for local education authorities. (IS)

Team Assisted Individualization (TAI), a mathematics program combining individualized instruction, cooperative learning teams, and direct instruction, was compared to control methods in a 24-week experiment in 59 third- through fifth-grade classrooms. Significantly positive effects were found for both disabled and nondisabled students. (Author/BS)

Analysis of data from 49 states reveals that the types of formulas used by the states for funding special education are not related to the percentage of mildly disabled children served in regular educational settings but are related to the percentages of mentally retarded and learning disabled children served. (PGD)

This digest uses a question-and-answer format to summarize basic issues about the inclusion of children who are deaf or hard of hearing in classrooms with normal hearing students. It briefly reviews the history of the inclusion movement and identifies two general positions in the debate: (1) that all students have the right to go to school with…