Discussion of the psychological assessment of children with learning difficulties considers: the role of the educational psychologist, IQ testing, behavioral and curricular approaches to assessment, dynamic assessment, and the relevance of psychological assessment to educational practice. Conclusions call for more ecologically valid assessment.…

Discussion of the teaching of history within British National Curriculum standards focuses on government reports of practice in 100 special schools for pupils with severe and profound learning disabilities. It finds that the way inspectors are interpreting "history" includes redefinition of traditional special school practice and an elastic…

This article examines how the new British National Special Educational Needs Specialist Standards might be used as an audit tool and the consequences for teachers, line-managers, and training providers. It considers the role of the standards, core standards, extension standards, the standards as an audit tool, accessing resources, and future…

A discussion of implementing the inclusion of students with disabilities in regular classes in Britain considers: teaching techniques, the appropriate use of learning support assistants with special needs students and a proposed framework for inclusive classroom practices. The framework emphasizes the integration of teaching techniques, various…

This article discusses primary education in Britain and the development of performance indicators for children with movement difficulties. It focuses on children's central movement difficulties as a factor in their total development and calls for early assessment and regular monitoring. (Contains references.) (DB)

Four groups of British primary school special education teachers (total N=30) met to identify and discuss the special education needs books that most influenced their work. The 47 books identified indicate that these practitioners value extending their knowledge base by reading both theoretical and practice-based books. (Contains 11 references and…

A survey of one region in Scotland attempted to identify the number and characteristics of children with dysgraphia, multidisciplinary and inter-professional services and relationships, and the role of electronic keyboards or word processors. Among detailed findings was that 20 percent of children had stopped using keyboards with the most frequent…

All 1999 issues of 26 journals in special education technology, special education, and educational technology were reviewed and 788 articles were identified of which 114 were judged as contributing to the knowledge base on special education technology research and practice. Four journals contained 60 percent of the relevant articles. Content…

This article compared two speech recognition systems, discrete speech and continuous speech, for remedial reading and spelling with 52 students (ages 9-18) with learning disabilities. Both discrete and continuous speech groups showed significant improvement in word recognition and reading comprehension over the control group and the discrete…

This study evaluated effects of training a school team in use of the Participation Assessment Framework and barrier-specific interventions (including technology applications) on the participation in literacy and math activities of a 10-year-old student with cerebral palsy and no functional speech. It found that the systematic training was…

This paper presents an overview of family and cultural issues relevant to planning for assistive technology (AT) for students with disabilities. The potential for interactive multimedia in helping teams and families make AT decisions is reviewed. It describes a newly available interactive CD-ROM designed to provide basic information for…

This article briefly describes three types of assistive technology for people with disabilities: (1) adaptations of generic devices, (2) additions to generic technology, and (3) equipment and devices designed to do things that generic technology cannot. It notes application of assistive technology to seven areas of human functioning such as…

This introductory column on issues of technology integration across special education teacher preparation reviews efforts towards this end of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, state departments of education, individual universities, and the federal government's Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers To Use Technology program.…

This introductory column on books and software concerned with special education technology presents an article by JuHye Yook on the software design process. It discusses the rationale for developing new software for students with reading disabilities, the design and development process, and analysis of the software design. Software use by two…

This column introduces Universal Design for Learning (UDL) by explaining the concept of universal design (initial design of buildings and other products to maximize accessibility for all people), universal design applied to educational materials, the central role of learning goals in universal design, and distinctions between universal design and…