This brief article describes the Mentoring Induction project of the Council for Exceptional Children. The project has developed guidelines for mentoring programs and piloted the guidelines with eight school districts. Interviews with new teachers suggest their primary concern is with curriculum. Suggestions are offered for how other teachers and…

This article reports on research on the effectiveness of a peer-assisted learning strategy (PALS) intervention to develop fluency in beginning readers with and without disabilities. Pairs of students complete phonically based activities and then repeated readings of a shared text. Evaluation indicated that the peer-mediated, repeated reading…

This article discusses the importance of learning to define a word. It provides a brief background on the contribution of the definitional skills to communication and school success, information on children's development of definitions, and teacher and family strategies for enhancing young children's definitions in relation to other skills.…

A mother discusses her family's experience in transitioning her daughter from early intervention services to an early childhood program. Helpful strategies that the early childhood staff used are identified and include introducing families to teachers during the transition process and allowing parents to visit the program before sending their…

This article describes a preservice program that promotes the utilization of the creative arts to enhance the learning of young children with disabilities. It highlights the benefits of co-teaching across disciplines and the value of creativity in early childhood special education. The curriculum and the students' fieldwork are described.…

In this article, a parent of a child with a developmental disability discusses the complications of parent-professional partnerships and identifies the following five distinct features, or dimensions, which both entangle and enhances the partnership dance: choice, forced intimacy, identification of partners, role expectations, and differing…

This article outlines a variety of communication strategies for effective collaboration in school settings, including conducting a needs assessment, providing professional development, producing newsletters, forming study groups, and conducting small-group dialogues. Topics for conversation are discussed and sample needs assessment items are…

This article shares how four students with severe disabilities in one Kentucky classroom achieved a "distinguished" rating, the highest rating, on their alternate portfolios by using the IntelliKeys keyboard as an alternative computer input device for the production of the alternate portfolio. It discusses tips for customizing IntelliKeys…

This article describes a Maryland staff development program that guides educators through an improved Individualized Education Program (IEP) process that provides a better alignment of IEP goals with general education curricular outcomes. The program's components and the teachers' response to the program during the 1999-2000 year are discussed.…

This article discusses strategies for increasing general education teacher participation in Individualized Education Program (IEP) development, in the following areas: team connection issues, time issues, preparation issues, training issues, and IEP relevance issues. A sample IEP meeting agenda is provided, along with results from an IEP…

This article discusses how systems of care for students with emotional and behavior disorders use service coordination to create and maintain linkages among schools, families, and social service agencies. It describes how service coordination teams operate and explores the role of teachers on these teams. (Contains references.) (CR)

This article discusses practical strategies to assist parents in becoming a more inclusive part of the Individualized Education Program process. Characteristics of effective teams are provided, and strategies are listed for providing social support, increasing distinctiveness, ensuring fairness, providing a sense of similarity, and for enhancing…

The benefits of using storytelling to encourage literacy in children with diverse learning needs are discussed, including providing a social context for literacy, helping children develop interesting ideas, encouraging role-taking and inferential comprehension, developing literary themes, and tapping children's prior knowledge. Tips for the…

This article describes practical strategies for promoting inclusion in religious programs. Strategies are provided for including children with mental disabilities, mild mental retardation, moderate mental retardation, and severe to profound mental retardation, and older students with mental retardation. Strategies are also provided for preparing…

This article discusses teaching strategies for reading and writing using computer software and Internet-based electronic materials for students with disabilities. Different types of educational software are described, along with prereading strategies, reading activities, and postreading activities. A list of literacy links on the World Wide Web is…