Three youths with mental retardation and behavior disorders were taught functional sight words that supported participation in recreation activities in community settings. Direct instruction with in vivo word find activities was demonstrated to be effective in promoting acquisition of functional sight words. Word recognition was maintained at…

The author discusses financial and administrative obstacles to successful implementation of P.L. 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. For related information, see EC 132 361. (CL)

Four papers (by A. Turnbull, J. Leonard, and R. Turnbull; A. Abeson; L. Burrello; and J. Fisher) respond to D. Sabatino's concerns over implementation of P.L. 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. For related information, see EC 132 360. (CL)

Eleven school psychology and 19 special education graduate students were asked to make a placement decision for a student based on data about IQ, adaptive behavior, and academic achievement. IQ had a powerful paralyzing effect on further flexibility in problem solving. (Author/CL)

Inservice workshops and simulated exercises were used with groups of early childhood teachers (N=48) to evaluate the effective features of diagnostic reports that make them useful to teachers for individualized curriculum planning for handicapped students. Results supported the advantages of using developmentally based reports to facilitate…

Three approaches to the evaluation of diagnostic decision making for handicapped students are discussed: accuracy, sensitivity and specificity, and ROC (receiver-operating-characteristic) analysis. ROC analysis is explained to allow the diagnostician to vary the decision threshold depending on the index of suspicion and relative costs and benefits…

The article reviews the history and current status of research and programing in special education in the Ukrainian SSR. Among topics addressed are parallels with the United States in categories of exceptionality and assessment practices. (CL)

Traditional diagnostic approaches with handicapped and nonhandicapped children usually occur outside the instructional context and focus on the learner. Accurate conclusions about the learner, however, can only be reached after an adequate diagnosis of instruction. (Author)

The study, involving 92 second and third graders with deficits in reading and auditory sequential memory (ASM), examined the possibility of improving ASM through training and the relationship between this training and reading ability. (Author/CL)

Elementary school pupils identified as being a year or more behind in reading and/or math achievement and who were observed as spending low percentages of time on task were selected for participation in an intensive engineered resource room program. Groups of approximately 10 Ss participated in each of three eight-week intervention phases. (Author)

Forty impulsive fifth and sixth graders participated in a project to help them become more reflective problem solvers. The study hypothesized that training Ss' parents and teachers in D. Meichenbaum's verbal self-regulation procedures would be more effective than training only children in such procedures. (Author)

The study evaluated the relationship between attending to task and speed of task completion of six mentally retarded adults in a vocational training program. (Author)

A conceptual perspective and set of principles are offered for the evaluation of special service programs in public school settings. Special service program evaluation is seen as a process of obtaining and reporting information on a program's adequacy, process, efficiency, and impact. (Author)

The article describes the methods and procedures of computerized statistical cartography, the production of statistical maps, and provides suggestions for its application in special education research and planning. (Author/CL)

Changes in academic self-concept were measured by Student's Perception of Ability Scale in 50 learning-disabled students, 18 educable mentally retarded students receiving full-time remedial placement, and 83 regular-class students. Pre-post data collected over 12-month period revealed that full-time placement was accompanied by statistically…