Support services for students with disabilities is now a distinct field of practice in higher education, with a significant increase in the number of students receiving services, programs to serve them, and professionals who oversee the programs. The field has professional and program standards, a code of ethics, and a disability service specific…

The paper examines issues related to analysis of cost effectiveness in human service research. Distinctions are made between cost-effectiveness analysis and cost-benefit analysis. A review of research focuses on 214 cost effectiveness studies in three human service program areas: early intervention for handicapped children, mental health programs,…

The paper reviews and critiques literature on adjustment stages presumably experienced by parents of children with mental retardation. Questions are raised regarding the methodological and practical issues of stages of research and the derivation of the stages themselves. An alternative approach to the study of parental adjustment is discussed.…

This critical literature review shows that studies of quality of life (QOL) for persons with disabilities follow a sharp dichotomy between subjective and objective approaches, whereas the phenomenon of QOL calls for a holistic approach. QOL is examined in terms of dynamic integration of the individual into the society. (Author/JDD)

The paper reviews the state of the art in evaluation research of direct instruction projects with handicapped students. The first section delineates research designs used (including norm referenced comparisons, nonequivalent comparison groups, and quasi experimental designs); major findings; and problems with each. A distinction is made between…

The review discusses the methodology for the literature search which divulged 53 studies on arts and various handicaps; analyzes study topics such as figure drawing assessment as a diagnostic tool; and comments on research problems, exemplary studies, and needs for future research. It also charts methodological components of 19 visual arts…

To understand trends in Scottish special education statistics, the data must be set against known demographic factors and must take into account changing patterns of age of pupils served in special education, types of learning difficulty, categories of establishment included, and distribution between schools and departments. Concludes that a move…

This introductory article discusses the benefits of participatory action research (PAR), including the empowerment of participants in research and the research process, the difficulties PAR presents, and summarizes following articles in a special series on the facets of PAR. (CR)

Inadequacies of the basic literature on punishment may limit its application in public school settings with mildly and moderately handicapped students. A large research void exists concerning such basic issues as how the timing, scheduling, type, and intensity of punishment affects children's behaviors in applied settings. (SEW)

Reviews research on attitudes of peer groups, professionals, and the general public toward the handicapped. Discusses methodological and theoretical problems in the literature, including ambiguities of attitude object and the concept of "contact." Emphasizes the importance of contextual effects, i.e., institutionalized patterns of behavior and…

This review of research on the social integration of children with disabilities in mainstreaming programs addresses the problems of generalizing findings to other groups of children, use of simplistic measuring techniques, limited evidence supporting the use of multivariate statistical procedures, and interpretation of treatment effects.…

The "regular education initiative," whose chief proponent is Assistant Secretary of Education Madeleine Will, calls for the merger of special education and regular education into one system. It is based on the Adaptive Learning Environment Model (ALEM) developed by Margaret Wang and her associates. This paper reviews the research,…

Research is reviewed on the use of direct observation methods to collect special education data focusing on seven major factors: reactivity; observer drift; the recording procedure; location of the observation; reliability; expectancy and feedback; and characteristics of subjects, observers, and settings. Recommendations are offered for increasing…

Critically reviews a study commissioned by the Scottish Education Department (SED) on the transition to adulthood of young people with special educational needs. Although the research serves the political purposes of the SED, it contains sampling problems and unrepresentative case studies and fails to address cost effectiveness. (KS)

A case is made that the term "science" in reference to special education is misused, and that the methods of empiricist science are inappropriately applied to the study of special education. Article concludes that many of the criticisms leveled at special education can be traced back to this misunderstanding of science. (Author/CR)