A survey of 530 members of the Council for Exceptional Children assessed their attitudes about the 1983 Standards for Professional Practice in Advocacy. Results indicated that respondents supported the standards and were active advocates. There were differences in advocacy activities among teachers, administrators, and others. Most districts and…

Evaluation of data on 689 Indiana students (ages 6-18) referred and identified as having learning disabilities indicated that 58 percent had been retained before identification, suggesting that retention is being used as remediation before labeling a student. Implications of this practice and alternatives to grade retention are considered.…

Twelve regular elementary teachers were asked to rate their confidence in designing specialized instruction for students with reading problems and then to diagnose a student's reading problem, select an intervention, and implement it. Teachers were moderately confident about their ability. Their approach to intervention differed somewhat from that…

The Executive Director of the Council for Exceptional Children evaluates recent comparisons of U.S. educational quality with that of other countries and stresses the need for special education to identify quality standards. Incorporation of this goal into the council's current restatement of its Mission Statement is noted. (DB)

The 1980s movement for improved transition of handicapped youth from school to work is considered in light of similar previous movements: (1) the career education movement of the 1970s and (2) the work/study movement of the 1960s. The influence of broad social issues (such as educational reform) on outcomes for the transition movement is stressed.…

The development and current status of special education in South Korea is reviewed. Similarities and differences in its national legislative requirements compared to the U.S. Public Law 94-142 are identified as are problems including a high teacher-pupil ratio, reliance on self-contained programs, negative attitudes toward people with…

Evaluation of a classroom mnemonic instructional method to teach science content to 19 mildly disabled students (grades 6-8) found mnemonic instruction resulted in improved initial content acquisition, higher delayed-recall scores than traditional instructional procedures, and generalization of mnemonic strategies to novel content. Students…

This study assessed the effects of curriculum on technical features (criterion validity and developmental growth rates) within curriculum-based measurement in reading with 91 elementary level handicapped and nonhandicapped students. Correlations between oral reading samples and reading comprehension as well as developmental growth rates were…

This article reports results of a survey of general educators, special educators, and classmates involved in the integration of middle school students with severe disabilities into eight general education classes in two communities. Integration was perceived positively by all of the educators and by most of the students. (DB)

This study evaluated the "missing-item" language intervention with two moderately to severely retarded students (ages five and six) in a special class setting. The missing-item format produced effects in requests for targeted snack items and, after generalization training, a requesting repertoire that was durable and generalized across multiple…

This evaluation study (with 45 middle school students with learning disabilities) found that students trained in summarization procedures performed significantly higher on all dependent measures of reading comprehension than those receiving traditional instruction. Also, on some measures, students also trained in self-monitoring outperformed those…

This commentary examines the political rhetoric evident in the education reform movement. Specifically, the paper questions what becomes of children with disabilities when schools feel pressure to improve standardized test scores and questions why educators are not included in the task forces of the National Governors' Association initiative on…

A survey of 180 early intervention professionals found significant discrepancies between current and ideal family involvement in early intervention programs, specifically in parent involvement in decisions about child assessment; parent participation in assessment, team meetings, and decision making; and provision of family services. Barriers to…

This study of 14 children (ages 3-5) with disabilities participating in the Classwide Social Skills Program found that the program increased subjects' positive play and levels of teacher reinforcement, but these increases did not generalize to 3-month or 6-month follow-up periods nor to another play session in the day. (Author/JDD)

This study, involving 4 high school seniors with learning disabilities, found that an initial vocational social skills simulation intervention delivered at school led to generalization in 8 of 12 target behaviors (3 behaviors per student). Subsequently, in situ training at the work site produced generalization in four of six behaviors. (Author/JDD)