The article summarizes the status of implementation of P.L. 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, in terms of numbers served; services (for students five years old and under, secondary and postsecondary aged, and institutionalized and previously institutionalized); personnel; least restrictive environment; procedural safeguards;…

Reviews Congress's annual report on the implementation of P.L. 94-142, The Education for All Handicapped Children Act, and notes questions of local practitioners regarding numbers of students served, personnel, least restrictive environment, procedural safeguards, evaluation, fiscal and technical assistance, and procedural changes. Concludes that…

The article points out the risk of erroneous classification and inequitable treatment for students who are difficult to teach and manage. Analysis of child count data highlights variability in identification and referral processes and suggests that attempts to tighten eligibility standards, especially for mildly handicapped students, is…

Data contained in the Learning Potential Assessment Device report were compared with information in a standard psychological report for value in educational programming with 146 graduate special education students. Ss rated both reports negatively. Neither report was perceived to be valuable for program planning purposes. (Author/CL)

Results of values inventories administered to 104 exceptional adolescents in five diagnostic categories and 101 nonexceptional adolescents indicated the two main groups had similar value hierarchies. Similar value patterns also existed among exceptional students in different categories. Comparison with nonexceptional adolescents showed demographic…

Ten hearing impaired adolescents receiving Instrumental Enrichment demonstrated improvements in: systematic approaches to problems; analysis of problem situations; vocabulary size; analysis of source-of-error in problem-solving situations; completeness, organization, and planning in problem-solving situations; peer cooperation in problem solving;…

Examined individual differences in the number of learning trials needed by 36 disabled readers to reach criterion on training words during phonics instruction. Low-, average-, and high-achieving pupils were characterized according to rates of initial learning. Results confirmed the value of a dynamic assessment model in learning disabilities. (CL)

The author examines how the courts have interpreted the related services mandate in P.L. 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, and offers some guidelines as to what is and is not required in terms of psychotherapy, health services, physical plant accessibility, parent training and counseling, and extracurricular activities.…

The article suggests that mainstreaming efforts have been largely unsuccessful because of faulty assumptions, focus on academic attainment for handicapped children, and failure to consider the social development of handicapped children. Self-efficacy theory is cited as a way to refocus the process and teach positive social behaviors to…

The study evaluated effects of integrated special education preschool programs, relative to comparable groups of children in nonintegrated special education preschools, across a broad assessment battery. Children in both types of programs made significant gains across the year, while Ss in integrated classes scored significantly higher only on a…

Twenty-three special education teachers were asked to differentiate between practices for spelling instruction which do and do not have adqequate empirical support and to report on the extent to which they employed various instructional practices in teaching spelling. Outcomes suggest that special educators may have several misconceptions…

A vocational transition model for disabled youth focuses on three stages: (1) school instruction (functional curriculum, community-based education), (2) planning for the transition process (involving parents and adult service representatives), and (3) placement into meaningful employment. (CL)

The article presents a model based on the premise that visual and conceptual delivery of information presented in the classroom is more important than the verbal transliteration of the spoken material for hearing impaired students in regular classrooms. The changing role of the educational interpreter is examined. (Author/CL)

The article presents results from a large sample of referred and learning disabled children and interprets them as being consistent with the contention that learning disability is a viable concept that can be meaningfully used. The author rejects the premature elimination of the concept in favor of more general constructs, such as low achievement.…

Learning disabled and nondisabled (N=22) children were individually observed in their classroom. Results indicated that normal youngsters spent about 80 percent of observed time on-task regardless of task demands. Learning disabled youngsters varied in their on-task behavior as a function of task demands. (Author/CL)