Maintains that economic pressure and military incursions supported by the United States have resulted in draconian cuts in special education services in Nicaragua. Prior to 1979, special education was extremely expensive. A UNICEF program, financed by the Swedish government, provides limited but effective support. (MJP)

Reports the findings of a qualitative study investigating the interactions relating to special education between principals and parent advocates. Specifically focuses on variations in perspectives among the principals and parent advocates on disability, special education and inclusion. Places a particular emphasis on exploring the perceived power…

The reauthorization of IDEA, which is now Public Law 108-446, was signed into law by President Bush on December 3, 2004. This article discusses background issues and some of the consequences of this new law for children with learning disabilities. For the first time in a reauthorization of IDEA, the rights of parents and students have been…

This guide, designed for regular classroom teachers in whose mainstream classes language-minority children are enrolled, offers background information and suggestions for helping these students become proficient in English reading and writing and for involving them as resources for global and cultural awareness in majority-language classmates. The…

This guide for inclusion facilitators was developed as part of New Hampshire's Inclusion Facilitators Support Network, created as an activity of the New Hampshire Statewide Systems Change Project. The Network provides a forum for Inclusion Facilitators to meet, share ideas and strategies, and discuss the latest innovations in inclusive education.…

This final report describes a project that prepared 28 integration/support facilitators to work with school district personnel to plan and implement systems change to result in integrated service models for learners with moderate and severe disabilities within their local home schools. The project offered a 30 to 36 credit hour post-Master's…

Using collaborative learning activities means structuring student interaction in small, mixed-ability groups, encouraging interdependence, and providing for individual accountability. By taking part in cooperative experiences, students are encouraged to learn by assimilating their ideas and creating new knowledge through interaction with others.…

In this book, the Committee on Goals 2000 and the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities addresses standards-based reform and the education of students with disabilities, and presents recommendations to states and communities that seek to make these reforms consistent with current policies and practice in special education. The first chapter…

The National High School Project was initiated to provide policy makers at the federal, state, and local levels with the information needed to design and evaluate the quality of special education programs serving youth with mild to moderate disabilities. This project report describes the results of a series of five surveys which examined multiple…

This collection of papers examines instructional environments for students with severe disabilities. It points out that two principles should guide the selection of all instructional environments for all types of learners at all stages of instruction: the environment should be the least restrictive environment possible and it should be the most…

This paper proposes a five-step model intended to meet the needs of gifted students in the context of the mixed ability reality that most teachers in regular classrooms encounter. The model consists of five steps each of which has several components. The steps and components are: (1) acceptance (initiatives must start out small and sound to be…

This packet contains a curriculum guide, teacher's guide, and simulations for a course in information processing. The curriculum guide contains the essential elements, a suggested scope and sequence, student competencies for the courses, an outline of course content, teacher activities, a list of recommended equipment, a competency checklist, and…

This handbook was developed out of a series of seminars to provide inservice staff development on teaching about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to high school students with and without special needs. Preliminary information gives background for supervisors of such staff development seminars and lists principles of effective staff…

This curriculum guide provides materials for teachers to use in developing a 1-year course in general mechanical repair as part of the trade and industrial education curriculum. The guide contains the following: (1) essential elements common to all trade and industrial courses; (2) an instructional delivery outline (teaching sequence) for the…

This bulletin issue contains seven papers describing innovations in various areas of special education and rehabilitation. "Training Criminal Justice Personnel To Recognize Offenders with Disabilities" (Keith L. Curry and others) examines prevalence figures of disabilities among incarcerated adults and describes the "Effectively…