The researchers who conducted a review of 995 journal articles on mainstreaming reflect on the finding that there has been much more survey research than direct measurement of teacher and student performance. The need for empirical research on instruction and learning in inclusive settings is stressed. (DB)

Two studies evaluated a notetaking intervention targeting the passive learning style and disruptive behaviors exhibited by adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Thirty teens in a summer program were able to learn notetaking strategies using a modification of the Directed Notetaking Activity training method and showed…

Examination of the school records of 41 children (ages 3 to 18) identified as having higher functioning autistic disorder (H-F AD) indicated that subjects' characteristics (including cognitive, language, social, developmental, and medical) were as similar to those of children with learning disabilities as they were to other children diagnosed as…

This article describes the strengths and weaknesses of different models of classification (primarily monothetic and polythetic) and then focuses on cluster analysis as a method of pursuing a polythetic model. Design features that need to be incorporated in a cluster analytic study are discussed in relation to theory formulation, internal validity,…

This reflection by the first author of Evans et al. (EC 609 934) on the efficacy of notetaking skills to improve behavior and comprehension of adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder stresses the importance of integrating mental health and educational interventions and difficulties in translating results of applied research on…

The authors of EC 609 935, a paper comparing characteristics of children with high functioning autistic disorder (H-F AD) with those of children having mild disabilities, reflect on difficulties in accurately identifying and programming for H-F AD children. Educators are urged to evaluate such students in terms of learning style, behavioral…

Seventh- and eighth-grade students with learning disabilities (n=29) who reasoned through factual prose sentences did not recall more information than students who were prompted to try to remember the content after each sentence. However, students trained in thinking skills produced more correct explanations of the information than control…

Thirty-four adolescents with learning disabilities received either spelling strategy training, spelling strategy plus attribution training, or a control condition. Significant differences in spelling recall scores favored the strategy training condition. Addition of the attribution training resulted in no observable improvement in spelling…

Observation of 22 children with mild disabilities (grades 3-6) over 2 years in cooperative learning inclusive settings indicated that only 40% of the students successfully participated in cooperative groups. Differences among classroom practices (for example, selection of partners, teacher monitoring, and establishment of a cooperative ethic) were…

This discussion of fostering recall and developing reasoning processes in students with mild disabilities considers the role of mnemonic strategies, similarities between mnemonic strategies and elaborative interrogation to facilitate information retrieval, constructivism and elaborative interrogation, and such problems as generalization and…

This article discusses the importance of attribution and strategy training for understanding motivation in students with learning disabilities, contributions of attributions to the larger motivational schema, and problems associated with measuring this affective variable. (DB)

This research commentary offers a rationale for focusing on individual students with learning disabilities (rather than teacher beliefs and behaviors or general achievement) in elementary grade cooperative learning settings. This focus resulted in the finding that many of these students were not having successful experiences and identified…

The application of noncategorical special education in two states and categorical special education in two companion states was considered, with a focus on program practices and procedures. The effects of grade level, disability severity, and school district size on state and local implementation of the noncategorical approach were examined, and…

Scientific reasoning of four elementary age students with mild mental retardation was investigated using structured interviews during tasks involving properties of air and electricity. Discourse analysis was employed to describe students' preconceptions about the natural world and how those preconceptions might be influenced by empirical evidence.…

This commentary offers authors' reflections on their case-study approach to examining the application of categorical and noncategorical special education (EC 612 095). The reflections address why the authors decided to study this issue, how case study methodology assisted in the study, and implications of the study. (SW)