Two studies evaluated the effectiveness of guided notes with five secondary students with mild disabilities and three postsecondary students with learning disabilities. In both studies, use of guided notes resulted in significantly improved academic performance. (Author/DB)

This article describes the inclusion model used at one elementary school in Virginia and the educational experiences of a third grader and a fifth grader, both with learning disabilities. The school uses a collaborative teaching model that emphasizes strategy training and provides full-time services in general education classes. (DB)

This article describes an inclusion model called MELD (Mainstreaming Experiences for Learning Disabled) implemented at an elementary school in Pennsylvania and the educational experiences of a second grader and a fifth grader, both with learning disabilities (LD). The model is a schoolwide effort with special education teachers providing in-class…

The effectiveness of writing process instruction in the regular classroom with three second grade students (one learning-disabled, one low-achieving, and one gifted student) is described. All three students demonstrated significant growth in punctuation, spelling, capitalization, and fluency during the six-month period. (Author/JDD)

Five single-subject studies indicated that adolescents with learning disabilities can successfully implement self-monitoring procedures in special and regular education settings and correspondingly improve their on-task behavior, without regard to classmates' percentage of on-task behavior and with fading of reinforcement and self-monitoring.…

This article describes one school's development of an alternative to conventional mainstreaming as an exercise in collaborative teaching and consultation for students with learning disabilities. Program design, a sample lesson, and evaluation/feedback are discussed. A timeline from a sample day and a list of collaborative teaching activities are…

Former special education students (n=23) were surveyed to investigate the outcomes of mainstreaming urban youth with mild disabilities into regular vocational programs to prepare them for employment. All respondents had been employed in at least one job since graduation, but more were unemployed than employed. (Author/JOW)

The study compared the regular classroom behavior and teacher ratings of 17 learning-disabled (LD), 16 low average (LA), and 17 average (AV) children in grades 1-2 in 11 schools before and after LD placement in resource programs. Among findings were no preplacement behavior differences and more LD maladaptive behavior patterns at postplacement.…

Identifies some of the various characteristics learning-disabled children possess. Offers 11 ways for teachers to adapt the reading curriculum for the learning-disabled child in a regular classroom environment. (MG)

This article compares the ideals of the regular education initiative to provide services for learning-disabled students within the regular classroom to the ideals and resulting negative effects (e.g., homelessness) of the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill during the 1960s. Resistance to efforts to decrease or eliminate special education…

Thirty-two students with and without learning disabilities who had participated in both inclusion and pull-out service delivery models were interviewed individually. Overall, more children preferred the pull-out model, but many children were confident that inclusion was meeting their academic and social needs. (Author/DB)

Reviews the origins of the continuum of placement options for learning-disabled students and the recent calls to replace pull-out placements with full inclusion in general education, exploring the efficacy of full inclusion and the features of special education that must be preserved when reinventing services for students with learning…

Structured interviews with 150 elementary students with learning disabilities found that they accurately perceived that special education is intended to provide extra help for children with academic problems. Students reported they liked special education classes, though some missed instruction or recreational activities in their mainstream class…

This article explores possible fiscal incentives associated with various state formulas for allocating special education funds and the degree to which such incentives affect special education. First we review empirical and contextual evidence in the literature that addresses the relationship between funding formulas and special education…

In this article, the author features the Universal Design for Learning, a computer-assisted methodology that has enabled special-needs kids in the Boston area to stay in regular classrooms. Developed by a nonprofit group called the Center for Applied Special Technology, the UDL approach--in which students use whatever print or technological tools…