A survey of 46 agencies providing residential support to persons with disabilities examined their capacity to support persons with disabilities who present challenging behaviors. Two independent variables (organizational stability and administrative leadership) and four dependent variables (staff structures, staff training, measurement systems,…

A study examined classroom membership in an early childhood setting which included a 3-year-old boy with multiple disabilities. Interpersonal interactions with peers and practices that contributed to building community are discussed. Findings revealed that there were deliberate and ongoing efforts to create a strong sense of community within the…

A group of 36 children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) were compared with 36 typical children matched on age, gender, and verbal IQ. Both a competence-importance discrepancy and social support/positive regard construct were significant predictors of self-worth for controls; however, for those with DCD, only the competence-important…

A study explored responsibilities and concerns of six young adults in relation to their brother/sister with vision and hearing disabilities. Although mothers were the primary care takers, siblings played an important, secondary role. Siblings expressed guilt about being unable to take a more active role and were aware of future demands. (Contains…

This article analyses how and why cultural diversity is relevant to children with speech and language difficulties and the professionals who work with them. The relevance of various aspects of culture including the development of communication skills, language socialization, adult-child interaction, and epidemiology of speech and language…

Results are presented from two studies involving 190 primary and high school students and 146 primary students with reading difficulties. These studies contributed toward the development of five 200 word standardized passages which may be employed interchangeably to monitor the performance of students with reading difficulties towards achieving…

A study involving 99 parents, researchers, residential workers, speech pathologists, and special education teachers revealed a high level of support for the Biala-II, a profile that uses the knowledge of informants who are able to provide specific information on the ways in which a person with mental retardation communicates. (Contains…

A study involving 89 female and 43 male special education teachers found that for female special educators, a balanced social role orientation was associated with higher levels of satisfaction and lower levels of stress, while an undifferentiated orientation was associated with lower levels of satisfaction and higher levels of stress. (Contains…

The effects of a psychological intervention program on attitudes of body image of six national female wheelchair basketball players was examined. As a result of the cognitive behavioral intervention program, physical self-perception increased for the wheelchair athletes and for 50 percent of the athletes on multidimensional components of body…

A survey of 130 Australian primary education teachers found that most were confident of their ability to manage classroom behavior but needed support in dealing with distractibility and were concerned about aggressive behavior. Less confident teachers expressed higher levels of concern about aggression, distractibility, and disobedience. (Contains…

This study analyzed tape-recorded workplace small talk collected in New Zealand workplaces, including workplaces employing workers with intellectual disabilities. The topics, the distributional patterns, and the functions of small talk are described, and aspects of the management of small talk which may present problems to workers with…

A 5-day workshop is described which was designed specifically to prepare Lesotho parents to act as trainers for other parents with a child who has a disability. Twelve months after participating in the workshop, participants (n=21) had organized 19 training events throughout Lesotho for families and community groups. (Contains 13 references.)…

This article describes the variety and complexities of the problems facing the People's Republic of China in relation to people with disabilities. It discusses ways China is trying to deal with the problems and gives a realistic appraisal of the difficulties faced by academic, clinical, and social welfare authorities. (Contains references.)…

The Interaction with Disabled Persons Scale explored attitudes of 1,346 Australian preservice teachers to people with disabilities. The best fitting model was found to be one in which there were four factors: discomfort, sympathy, embarrassment, and vulnerability. Changes in attitudes after a one-year training course were found to be minimal.…

A study examined the perspectives of 77 caregivers on how much they valued major curriculum skills areas for their children (ages 3-28) with disabilities. Parents of children with moderate, severe, and mild disabilities indicated the highest priority for self-help functional life skills, followed by community-based functional life skills.…