ERIC Number: ED300958
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1988-Mar-28
Pages: 9
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Consultation To Improve Teachers' Instruction of the Profoundly Handicapped.
McDaid, Janet L.
The paper summarizes a study of the educational environments of profoundly handicapped pupils enrolled in special education classes relative to the types of learning experiences, social opportunities, and services provided by three teachers in the San Diego, California, school district. The teachers were all in their first year working with the profoundly handicapped and the classrooms each contained 10 profoundly handicapped pupils and included children ranging in age from 3 to 22 years old. The classrooms served the following groups of pupils: those between 4 and 12 years old; those between 12 and 22; and those having multiple impairments requiring constant on-call medical attention; this group ranged in age between 3 and 8 years. The study examined daily activity logs, pupils' records, Individualized Education Programs (IEP). The study also conducted teacher interviews, and applied participant-observation techniques. Findings indicated: (1) teachers interacted in specially patterned ways with assistants, resource staff, and care providers to obtain information about pupils and plan IEP goals; (2) teachers' expectations for individual pupils' growth and development affected the type of interpersonal communication used with the pupils and goal directed activities; (3) teachers used effective practices resulting in the provision of an effective educational environment for the pupils. Key practices were categorized into the following areas: teacher expectations, teachers' interaction patterns, teachers' decisions and plans, interpersonal communication with pupils, and classroom activity structure. Guidelines for school psychologists providing consulting services to special education teachers are also listed. (DB)
Descriptors: Classroom Observation Techniques, Consultants, Educational Environment, Educational Practices, Elementary Secondary Education, Expectation, Individualized Education Programs, Instructional Effectiveness, Interaction Process Analysis, Preschool Education, School Psychologists, Severe Mental Retardation, Special Classes, Teacher Attitudes, Teacher Effectiveness
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Annual Convention of the California Association of School Psychologists (38th, Anaheim, CA, March 28, 1988).