Perspectives that underlie a study of scientific reasoning of elementary students with mild mental retardation (EC 612 096) are provided. Epistemological issues that appear to shape knowledge of special education are addressed, specifically "constructivism" versus "behaviorism" and the relative worth of "constructed" versus "instructed" knowledge.…

Guidelines for the implementation of qualitative methods in special education research are offered, addressing rigor, sample selection, data collection, and data management/analysis. Five possible pitfalls are identified, including the quantitative-qualitative methods debate, premature data collection, the tendency to use a linear procedural…

Family demographics of 8th-grade students with visual impairments (n=89), hearing impairments (n=105), deafness (n=29), and orthopedic impairments (n=60) were compared to those of 22,368 additional U.S. 8th-grade students. Analysis revealed that families of children with disabilities showed higher percentages of divorce or separation, lower family…

Variables related to special education teacher attrition were examined by qualitative interviews with 14 current and 10 former special education teachers. Analysis indicated that stayers were more committed to teaching students with disabilities, had a higher sense of efficacy, felt more prepared by their preservice and initial teaching…

The authors of EC 610 841 comment on problems encountered in their research, such as difficulties in analyzing interview data, and discuss their ongoing three-year study of personal and environmental influences affecting attrition of special education teachers. (DB)

Self-recording of success in meeting specific teacher expectancies during their school schedules by four middle school students with learning disabilities or behavioral disorders was found effective in increasing the percentage of teachers' expectancies exhibited. Maintenance was evidenced across students. Carrying schedules without self-recording…

This study, involving 30 elementary students with learning disabilities, found that students performed significantly better on mathematics tests given using a computer than by paper and pencil. It found no differences among variations of computer-assisted instruction, with either static or animated pictures and either utilizing or not utilizing a…

Key words from product warning labels were taught to four adolescents with moderate mental disabilities using flash cards and a progressive time-delay procedure. Although students mastered the words in a relatively short time with minimal errors, generalization probe data with actual products across settings revealed the need for instruction to…

These thoughts, by the author of a paper (EC 611 426) on having students self-record their success in meeting teachers' expectancies, examine the role of theory in guiding research and practice and the replicability of research on self-management behaviors in various special-needs populations. (DB)

These reflections by the authors of a paper (EC 611 427) on computer-assisted instruction of students with learning disabilities comment on their reanalysis of the research process and their interpretations of the unanticipated results. Implications for further research on the cost effectiveness of learning-strategy training versus time-on-task…

These thoughts, by an author of a paper (EC 611 428) on teaching adolescents with moderate mental retardation to read key warning label words, focus on the importance of teaching for generalization or teaching word recognition using actual labels and encouraging an appropriate behavioral response. (DB)

Two groups (N=65 each) of congenitally deaf teenagers divided according to hearing/deaf parents were assessed for three measures of communicative fluency and two measures of English grammar/structure. High correlations were found between reading and the English grammar measures. Fluency in American Sign Language was not correlated with reading for…

Teachers used a nonexclusionary time-out package emphasizing ongoing participation to treat inappropriate social behaviors in 4 classrooms of roughly 16 preschool children each. Behavior improved in terms of several measures including direct observation. Opinions of treatment acceptability from a survey of 210 lay people were also found to support…

A survey assessed time spent in the community and/or on unstructured activities by randomly selected individuals in Intermediate Care Facilities for the Mentally Retarded (ICF/MR) (N=20) or minigroup home settings (N=20). Individuals in ICF/MR homes spent more time in the community with staff and made fewer choices of unstructured activities.…

This study examined effectiveness of an instructional program designed to teach learning-disabled adolescents (N=70) to make better personal decisions. A pretest/posttest comparison design found that following instruction students showed better ability to both identify general schema for decision making and apply schema to novel problem…