The notion of the continuum is applied to special education in diverse contexts across many nations. This article explores its conceptual underpinnings, drawing on a systematic search of the literature to review recurring ideas associated with the notion and to explicate both its uses and shortcomings. Through a thematic analysis of the…

Many parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have reported general discontent with the services offered by the education system and have advocated for increased ASD-specific services to better meet their children's educational needs. The elements of best practice offer an ideal model for educational support. There are, however,…

The Project ACCESS (Adapting Curriculum Content for Exceptional Secondary Students) resource guide is designed to help regular classroom teachers provide successful experiences to mildly handicapped mainstreamed students through the adaptation of the curriculum. The concerns-based approach, which was used successfully by Project ACCESS, focuses on…

The New Jersey Mainstream Inservice Project is described as a response to the mandate of P.L. 94-142 (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act) for a comprehensive system of personnel development. The model stresses collaboration between the state department of education, 50 local school districts, and five institutions of higher education…

A mutual support model was developed to prepare teachers to meet the needs of mainstreamed handicapped children at the University of Akron (OH). In 1975 the university was among the first to receive funding from the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped. Among the first tasks that year was the challenge of changing the attitudes of faculty who…

This manual presents a model, currently implemented in Oakland, California, for designing and carrying out a program to provide special services to students with special needs within general education classrooms in Catholic elementary schools. It notes that no formalized support system currently exists within Catholic schools for students with…

This paper offers guidelines for effectively integrating preschool children with disabilities in classrooms with nonhandicapped children. First, formal aspects of program integration including legislative requirements and the Child Find program to identify young children needing special services are reviewed. Next, program planning guidelines are…

The Special Education/Early Childhood Consultation Model provides on-site consultation to help day care providers acquire skills to adapt and modify activities to facilitate the social integration of handicapped children in all activities of the day care program. (Author/CB)

This article develops two perspectives on the Regular Education Initiative, the first drawing on two decades of research and practice to document and discuss understandings about school improvement. The second draws on the current movement to restructure schools. A reformist partnership between classroom teachers and special education is proposed.…

Inclusion is the practice of educating children who have disabilities in classes together with their peers who do not have disabilities. This packet on "least intervention" contains resource materials that help ensure appropriate inclusion. The first section of this packet contains discussions of appropriate inclusion and a description of the…

The first section of this essay reviews forces that led to the Regular Education Initiative (REI). Findings from research on effective instruction, innovation and staff development are synthesized. A conceptual framework is offered to explain factors necessary to create meaningful, sustained changes in classroom practices as required by the REI.…

In collaborative schools, regular and special education teachers meet regularly to analyze and make decisions about instructional practices and services to meet the needs of all students. This paper explores the effectiveness of a school development model in helping small rural schools adopt three characteristics of collaborative schools: (1) a…

This paper discusses the preliminary findings of Project DESTINY (Designing Educational Support Teams through Interdisciplinary Networks for Youth with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders), a three-year project designed to evaluate models for school-based service delivery to students with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD). The sample for the…

This final report describes activities and achievements of Project Relationship, a Los Angeles (California) program designed to support the successful inclusion of young children with disabilities and challenging behaviors in publicly funded child care settings. During the 3 years of model development and 2 years of model refinement and…

Implementation of a pyramid model to teach behavior management strategies to the staff of an integrated childcare center found improvements in performance of the three trained "specialists," improvements in other staff trained by the specialists, changes in child behavior, and general satisfaction with the training procedures. (DB)