This study investigated 60 general education teachers' beliefs, skills, and practices in planning and making adaptations for students with learning disabilities mainstreamed into general education. Results indicated that, even among skilled teachers, gaps exist between beliefs, practices, and skills. Differences were also found among elementary,…

Using a set of qualitative measures, 12 regular children in kindergarten and 12 regular children in grade 3 were asked to express their attitudes toward 3 same-age peers with special needs (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or learning disabilities). Results indicated that the kindergarten children were more accepting than were the grade 3…

Ethnographic research methodology is reviewed as an emerging methodology in special education, with application made particularly to understanding regular classrooms into which students with learning handicaps may be integrated. Suggested descriptive questions for an ethnographic interview are given, for use in research investigations and in…

Oral paraphrase is presented as an informal and versatile strategy for assessing and enhancing listening comprehension in mainstreamed students with language/learning disabilities. Approaches to assessing the listening comprehension demands of individual classrooms and using various dimensions of paraphrasing to enhance language comprehension and…

The drive for full inclusion has proven disastrous for certain learning-disabled students who may require alternative instructional environments, different teaching strategies, and special materials. Students with learning disabilities would succeed in regular classrooms if more special-education learning strategies, such as collaborative…

Describes a study of changes in attitudes and writing performance of learning-disabled (LD) college students resulting from a mainstream writing class employing a workshop format and microcomputer word processors. The LD students' performance level was consistent with the non-LD students in the class, and their writing attitudes improved. (DMM)

Cognitive, academic, and behavioral characteristics of 42 children with learning disabilities were assessed from identification at age 6-7 to the age of 11.5. At endpoint, resource students showed a drop in verbal intelligence quotient and lower achievement compared to mainstreamed students, though there were no differences at the time of…

Systematic observation of 60 general education teachers found that teacher behaviors toward mainstreamed students with or without learning disabilities did not differ significantly. However, significant differences in student behaviors were found, with students with learning disabilities interacting with the teacher, other students, and classroom…

Presents answers to common questions on meeting the needs of students with learning disabilities (LD) in regular classrooms. Describes LD, offers instructional strategies, and discusses teaching abstract concepts, student self-esteem, student depression, teacher emotions, inclusive education, how to tell whether someone has LD, and where to get…

Discusses how to manage classrooms that include students identified with learning disabilities, emotional disturbances, and mild mental retardation. For these classrooms to succeed, teachers must implement appropriate curricular accommodation and classroom-management strategies and promote the learning and social skills of typical students. When…

With strong administrative and parental support, Hinsdale (Illinois) Central High School successfully launched an inclusive (and heterogeneous-grouping) policy with five special-needs ninth graders in fall 1995; eight others took some regular courses while remaining in their traditional special-education program. (MLH)

Explains what mild disabilities are and discusses the issue of mainstreaming within the realm of elementary school social studies. Provides strategies for social studies teachers to use when addressing the needs of students with learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral disorders, mild mental retardation, and other health impairments. (CMK)

This article considers how good teaching in general education classes can be good intervention for students with learning disabilities. It urges combining Big-S Science (the educational research literature) with little-s science (a teacher's study of what works in his/her classroom). It stresses the teacher's beliefs about students with…

Learning and behaviorally disordered students place high demands on classroom organization and management. They are time-consuming, since teachers must place much more attention on them than other children and teachers' efforts to cope with their learning and/or behaviors may not work as readily as teachers wish. Since compulsory education was…

Society's pervasive negative attitude about disability--which the author terms ableism--often makes the world an unwelcoming and inaccessible place for disabled people. An abelist perspective asserts that it is preferable for a child to read print rather than Braille, walk rather than use a wheelchair, spell independently rather than use a…