This study examined the effects of a short-term professional development on the mathematical knowledge, anxiety, and attitudes of intermediate teachers. Participants in the control and experimental groups were pre-tested for knowledge using the eighth grade TCAP Item Sampler. Anxiety was measured through the use of Suinn and Winston's (2003)…

The effects of three interventions (peer initiation, reinforcement, and prompting) delivered by nonhandicapped students (4th graders) on the social initiation behavior of untrained peers toward a student with severe handicaps were examined. Results indicated the prompt procedure produced the highest levels of positive social initiation from…

Physical educators can teach preadolescents safe training methods and help them set realistic goals congruent with their needs and abilities without sophisticated and costly equipment. A cooperative strength training program with appropriate instructional methods is described. (MT)

A script fading procedure was effectively used to teach 4 children (ages 9 and 12) with autism to initiate interactions with peers. Increased initiations (to within normal levels) generalized to a different setting, and for three of the children were maintained at two-month follow-up. (Author/DB)

Three autistic children (ages 9-11) received spontaneous communication training using a time delay, modeling, and food reinforcement procedure. Results showed gains in 2 spontaneous responses ("please" and "thank you") and 1 verbally prompted response ("you're welcome"). Gains were validated socially with 10 adults. (Author/JDD)

Investigation of examiners' (N=44) evaluations of writing performance of learning-disabled (LD) students indicated that the LD label influenced ratings assigned by examiners (undergraduate education students) who were simply familiarized with the scoring procedure. Evaluations by examiners who received additional practice and training were not…

The effects of passive exercise of the extremities on peripheral vision of muscular dystrophic children aged 9 to 13 years was investigated. Compared to control subjects, those who experienced six minutes of passive exercise evidenced increased peripheral vision. Curriculum revisions for muscular dystrophic children indicate the importance of…

Twenty-eight learned helpless children (ages 9-13) assessed as reading below grade level were randomly assigned to one of four reinforcement and attribution retaining treatments. Indirect and direct attribution retaining increased childrens' reading persistence and their attribution of failure on the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility scale…

Based on the assumption that the active involvement of the reader is required to give meaning to the printed word, a study was devised to test whether reading comprehension can be increased if students are taught to formulate questions about what they read. The study had three phases: a pilot study during which fifth grade top readers were…

Subjects were four learning disabled students (ages 9-10) with significant attentional problems. Results indicated relatively equivalent increases in on-task behavior over baseline during all treatment phases. Academic response rate also improved under both interventions, with self-monitoring of productivity exhibiting mixed results. (Author/JW)

Describes an experiment that examined the degree to which self-instructional training influences elementary school aged children's comprehension monitoring during reading, and notes that such training does, indeed, increase comprehension monitoring. (HOD)

The aim of this study was to show that the superiority of corrected-for-guessing scores over number right scores as true score estimates depends on the ability of examinees to recognize situations where they can eliminate one or more alternatives as incorrect and to omit items where they would only be guessing randomly. Previous investigations…

Effects of a packaged teacher-consultant-mediated intervention program (CLASS) for modifying acting-out behavior in the regular classroom were evaluated. The experimental groups significantly increased their proportion of appropriate behavior postintervention and required fewer remedial services and special class placement years later. Training…

The effectiveness of a peer-modeling treatment in the modification of impulsive cognitive style and in the improvement of academic performance in the areas of reading, spelling and arithmetic is investigated in this study. In four single case experiments, eight fifth grade children identified by the Matching Families Figures Test Form 20 (MFF20)…

Although it is difficult to categorically recommend the use of relaxation with children, preliminary investigations support its viability. Due to the widespread effects of tension, relaxation may be prescribed for children with many types of learning and emotional needs. It may be applied in individual and group developmental counseling. (Author)