This study examined effects of contextualized math instruction on problem-solving performance of 17 middle school remedial students and 49 average-achieving prealgebra students. Results showed that both remedial and average students receiving contextualized-problem instruction outperformed comparison groups receiving word-problem instruction.…

The purpose of this study was to examine how one teacher manages to include students with special needs in an ordinary classroom. We describe how she attempted to achieve positive academic and social outcomes for students in the classroom, and especially how she handled a boy with impulsive and uncontrolled behaviour. Data collection was carried…

In 1994 a comprehensive reform of upper secondary education was introduced in Norway, giving all 16-year-olds--including SEN students--a statutory right to enter upper secondary. In a longitudinal study following a representative group of SEN students through upper secondary from 1994 until 1999, the main findings were: (1) SEN students in special…

Schools are required to develop policies and practices in line with the principles of both partnership with parents and pupil participation. However, there is increasing recognition of the potential tensions that may exist between these two principles. This paper reports on a study that aimed to explore the question of how schools might develop…

Affective consequences of two types of mathematics instruction, guiding instruction and directing instruction, were studied for two types of students with special needs: mildly mentally retarded students and students with specific learning disabilities. Seventy students were instructed in small groups in either a guiding or a directing instruction…

Conceptual problems about justice and disability relate directly to practice. Current thinking tends (1) to consider only distributive justice (the allocation of resources); (2) to assume that educators have the right to impose their own values on the disabled; and (3) to classify people as disabled, and treat those people, in accordance with a…

At the root of processes of inclusion and exclusion in society and schools seems to be a notion of 'other' as outsider/insider or deviant/normal and the social construction of such identities by onlookers in relation to a binary divide. In schools a fundamental process upon which the interpretations, practices and actions of teachers are founded…

This paper focuses on the international experience with early identification and intervention for children with AD/HD. Much less is known about AD/HD in two- to five-year-old preschool children than is known for older school-aged youngsters. Despite this lack of knowledge, AD/HD is increasingly recognized in this population and stimulant…

In this paper, Finnish special education research is analysed. The material for this review consists of all academic theses published between the years 1951 and 1999. Doctoral theses can be considered as one type of official product of normal science, since they undergo rather stringent internal scientific evaluation. An attempt is made to…

This paper reports research on cross-national collaboration through Information and Communications Technology (ICT) within the statutory curricula of 10 special schools in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Working in north-south paired classes, the pupils carried out joint tasks using asynchronous computer conferencing and…

In July 1999 the House of Parliament in Cyprus passed the Education Act for Children with Special Needs, according to which all children have the right to be educated in their neighbouring regular school together with their age-mates. An important component of this law is that it introduces, for the first time, inclusive education into pre-primary…

In an attempt to test the assumption that children with learning disabilities (LD) have deficient self-concepts, a number of studies have compared the self-concepts of students with learning disabilities and their normally achieving (NA) peers. The purpose of this paper is to review recent studies that investigated the academic, social and general…

The present study was designed to determine if children with learning disabilities in mathematics could be taught three-row, double-digit addition problems using a dot-notation method. Three children with learning disabilities in mathematics were selected for the study. Prior to the intervention, these students employed a combination of count-all…

The goals of the present study were to examine the effects of an intervention programme on sense of efficacy and attitudes towards inclusion of pupils with six types of disability, among Israeli (N=66) and Palestinian (N=192) teachers. We also studied how these attitudes were related to their general attitudes towards education; whether regular…

This short report identifies the academic and environmental experiences that support the reclaiming of students at high academic risk and describes an applicable school-wide programme emanating from the call for educational change in Israel. The proposed structured academic programme demonstrates how schools can achieve broad student knowledge and…