Professional development (PD) enhances teachers' effectiveness and fosters a more favorable disposition towards inclusive education. However, some teachers have expressed a sense of inadequacy in their readiness to instruct students with disabilities within inclusive classrooms due to a perceived deficiency in training. The perspectives of K-12…

Students identified as special education are being placed in general education classes with a plan for modifications and accommodations and expected to achieve academic success at the same rate as their on-level counterparts. However, they still continue to lag behind in literacy achievement by about 3.4 years. The purpose of this study was to…

Background: Although Mauritius has adopted an inclusive education policy for learners with special education needs, it has not yet been implemented. Little is known about how teachers support learners experiencing reading and writing difficulties (RWD) in mainstream government primary schools. Aim: The aim of the study was to describe the…

This article reports on aspects of a small-scale study conducted in the south of England that explored the learning experiences of three four-year-old children with identified special educational needs, who attended a combination of early education settings--one "more special" and one "more inclusive" (Nind et al., 2007). The…

The success and quality of educational provision for children with SEN and/or disabilities is a matter of considerable debate, with wide differences reported by parents. Extant evidence is limited by sampling bias and size, making the true extent of (dis)satisfaction difficult to gauge. This paper reports systematic, comparative evidence from a…

The learning disabled child needs understanding, structure, and assimilation to develop his potential. (DB)

This paper reviews the implications of definitions of learning disabilities for the Regular Education Initiative. Since heterogeneity (i.e., developmental imbalances, intraindividual gaps) is characteristic of this population, regular classroom modifications alone are unlikely to meet these students' needs and thus special services will continue…

Concerns raised by the regular education initiative of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services include: the possible elimination of services to learning disabled students, the greater potential for school failure and its relatively greater damage than the "learning disability" label, and the inappropriateness of the…

The article reviews the history of public policy, legislation, and services affecting learning disabled children in the context of professional differences concerning definitional issues and anxieties about current initiatives to serve learning disabled students in the regular classroom. The need for solid research on effective instruction with…

Rapid changes in the field of regular and special education have increased the urgency of supplying relevant inservice teacher training programs to help regular teachers serve an increased number of exceptional children in their classrooms. (DB)

To identify content and format priorities for special education inservice training, 243 elementary classroom teachers in 21 schools with learning handicapped (LH) programs were surveyed. A questionnaire was developed to elicit responses to 22 topics and 21 methods of inservice training, with category selection based on a Likert-type one to four…

A model for the delivery of services to learning disabled children which provides procedures for services in the least restrictive environment through professional and parental participation is described. It is explained that the components of the model are the referral system, the case conference (where the decision is made regarding the…

The author makes suggestions for teachers of special education students concerning accommodating individual needs. The suggestions include: (1) adjust the level of difficulty appropriately; (2) make only those changes which are really necessary; (3) give the poor reader a break; (4) make notetaking easier; and (5) teach for attention,…

As part of the National Longitudinal Transition Study of Special Education Students (NLTS), this study examined characteristics of and educational programs and services provided to secondary students (N=589) classified as learning disabled (LD) in the 1985-86 school year. Difficulties in performing basic functional skills were identified in about…

Ten articles focus on the education of behaviorally disordered/emotionally disturbed children from the points of view of a parent, a legal advocate, an educational therapist, a teacher, an administrator of a regular school, and an administrator of a special school. Also considered are institutional collaboration, teacher training, and support…