Since the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act became law, advocacy groups, educators, and the courts have struggled to define "least restrictive environment." Viewpoints have ranged from stressing total inclusion to combining special/regular education resources to benefit all students and providing a full continuum of services in…

Provisions for children with specific learning difficulties were studied in 27 secondary schools in 5 regions of Scotland. Specific learning difficulties were seen as functional weaknesses in students who might otherwise be intellectually able. Questionnaires were completed by the schools to determine: number of students with specific learning…

The Mentor Supported School Success Program was developed by the rural school district of Dorchester County, Maryland, as an effort to include students displaying troubling behaviors in regular classroom settings. The program offers supplementary support to current school programming through the use of mentors. In the first year of the program,…

This paper describes the efforts of a team of parents, educators, and related personnel to promote successful classroom inclusion of Erin, a girl with Downs Syndrome, during grades K-4. Erin's parents were pioneers in the inclusion movement in rural Mecosta-Osceola Intermediate School District (Michigan), and when Erin was 5, they insisted that…

This guide offers specific recommendations to Texas school districts concerning the implementation of least restrictive environment (LRE) requirements for students with disabilities. Suggestions are grouped according to six issues recommended for consideration in the decision making process: These are: (1) the primacy of the individual student's…

This practicum was designed to improve the delivery of special education services to all students with special needs in a rural Canadian school district. The goal was for teachers, as members of program planning teams, to design and implement individual program plans for exceptional students according to district special education policy…

Literature on the topic of preparing teachers for mainstreaming was reviewed, with focus on research and writings involving: (1) teacher attitudes toward mainstreaming; (2) teachers' expressed needs in regard to mainstreaming; (3) development of preservice education programs which provide a base of knowledge and experience in mainstreaming; (4)…

Profiles are presented of programs effective in delivering special education services to students in rural areas. Projects are reviewed in terms of title, contact, strategy setting (occupations, income, special education staff, number of special education students), problem, strategy description, potential users, population affected, special…

Human rights review is a process by which agencies assure that an intrusive behavioral program is appropriate in a given case. Methods are described for local education agencies to accomplish human rights review of proposed and ongoing intrusive behavioral treatment with students who have severe behavior problems. One approach to human rights…

Two studies on reintegration of behaviorally disordered (BD) students into general education classroom are presented. Part I, by S. Huntze, considers five basic assumptions underlying the concept of reintegration and the following five areas that need to be considered when matching student and classroom environment: physical setting, academic…

The Employment Training and Transition Model is presented as a comprehensive classroom model whose goal is to prepare students with severe handicaps to work, live, and recreate in their home communities while in high school and after graduation. The model is built on the assumption that high school programs should be integrated, age-appropriate,…

This unit of instruction is one of a series of materials developed by the Comprehensive Vocational Teacher Education Program for the Mississippi ARC (Appalachian Regional Commission) Region to provide teacher educators, vocational directors, teachers, and others with basic instructional materials needed to guide and assist inservice vocational…

Ten brief articles focus on issues in the administration of special education especially in New York State. Articles have the following titles and authors: "Administrative Skills--Coping with the Future" (J. Gross); "The Impact of Public Law 94-142 and Chapter 853 on Regular and Special Education Administrators" (R. Costello);…

This publication on vocational education goals and objectives is the fourth in the Self-Help series of five booklets designed for Alaska administrators and teachers to improve vocational services provided to handicapped pupils. It begins with a checklist of implications for administrators and teachers. Some reasons for goals and objectives…

A sample of 212 Mississippi special education teachers responded to a questionnaire concerning their education, adequacy of their coursework, and their training needs in relation to PL 94-142. Identified inservice needs focused on individual education plans (IEPs), working with the emotionally disturbed, and cooperating with parents. (SJL)