The performance of 20 hyperactive and 26 comparison elementary-school boys on a spelling recognition task found that color facilitates attention to detail. Hyperactive children who practiced the task with all black letters first and color added later out-performed comparison children. (Author/JDD)

A survey of 141 elementary and 79 secondary teachers of students with mild handicaps found that the average student-teacher ratio was 4.7:1, with a range of 1:1 to 15:1. Minor differences were found as a function of the students' categorical designations and elementary versus secondary level. (Author/JDD)

Interviews with 22 high-school special education teachers, 24 mildly handicapped adolescents, and 8 administrators found that almost half of the teachers were not using microcomputers. Teachers with at least one computer in their classroom were more likely to use computers and have positive attitudes toward computers. Predominant uses included…

This paper describes efforts to establish ungraded classes for mildly retarded children in New York City from 1900-1920, focusing on struggles to find and train qualified teachers, correctly identify children to be served, and provide ample classroom space. The introduction of intelligence testing is also examined. (Author/JDD)

National survey data were gathered from 1,450 school districts to determine the extent to which vocational and transition-oriented services were available to secondary-age special education students. Examined were types of disabilities served, number of students, local education agency service configurations, school resources, and external…

After special education resource teachers (n=27) were taught to use a standard trend estimation procedure as an aid in visual analysis of their students' charts, interrater agreement with reliability judges increased from .56 to .78. Prior knowledge of student performance was found to have an effect on visual inference. (Author/JDD)

Two studies were conducted to examine the effectiveness of using study guides with learning-disabled, remedial, and regular education students enrolled in secondary social studies and science classes. Results indicated that study guides, whether teacher-directed or student-directed, produced significantly higher performance than self-study.…

Multidimensional scaling was utilized to assess the disability perceptions of 4 groups of educators (elementary school principals, special education administrators, regular elementary teachers, and special education teachers). Despite identified differences among the 247 educators' perceptual spaces, the groups shared some commonalities relating…

A survey of 100 regular classroom teachers found that teacher participation in the mainstreaming process, rather than availability of specific classroom modifications, was an important factor in their accepting elementary-age handicapped students into their classrooms. Of the modifications surveyed, most desired were reduced class size, support…

Examined were the effects of reversing the color of stimulus materials used to teach survival vocabulary to 16 spastic cerebral palsied and 16 other multihandicapped adolescents with mental retardation. Compared to black-on-white cards, white-on-black cards improved the acquisition performance of both groups, but did not affect retention.…

Twenty single-subject investigations on early language interventions were reviewed. Treatments, including direct reinforcement of verbalization, mand-model, and time delay, were generally successful. Specific generalization training procedures were also supported. (Author/DB)

Thirty-five studies on the efficacy of special class versus regular class placement for mildly handicapped students were reviewed for the power of their statistical tests. Twenty-one studies had adequate power to detect a large effect size but the power to detect a medium effect size was no better than chance. (Author/DB)

The article defines the component skills required to learn effectively from pictures, and reviews research on the development of those skills with developmentally disabled individuals. (Author/DB)

Causal modeling techniques were used to examine relationships among: (1) a curriculum-based special education measurement and evaluation system, (2) structure of instruction, and (3) achievement. All three constructs were stable over time. Teachers' accuracy in setting up student performance measurement was directly related to student achievement.…

The study of cognitive processing in high IQ and average IQ elementary grade learning disabled and non-learning disabled children found that LD students were poorer in sequential processing and planning compared to NLD students; high IQ LD students lost their IQ advantage to low IQ LDs in sequential scores. (Author/DB)