The purpose of this literature review is to explore the role of professional collaboration within the school context as a means of improving the quality and retention of beginning special education teachers (SETs). The assumption underlying the review is that the local school context in which new SETs work should also function as the primary…

For 50 years, laws such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended in 1991, and the Equal Pay Act of 1963 have protected women from overt discrimination. Although gender inequity persists in today's workplace, its presence and effects continue to be underestimated by the relevant stakeholders. Informal observations have shown that college…

A guide to identifying, placing, and instructing children with severe disabilities, including deaf-blindness, is presented. Identification and placement information focuses on locating and referring children in need of special education services, the role of committees and staff members, the individualized education program, entrance and placement…

The Kindergarten Screening Instrument consists of five sub-scales and attempts to screen for possible difficulty in the areas of distant vision, hearing, eye-hand coordination, language learning, and gross motor performance. In response to many requests for follow-up activities after screening, this manual was prepared by Volunteers in Public…

Intended for a group of twelve to fifteen people with one facilitator (chairperson), this game includes materials and instructions for a simulation activity for individuals concerned with how stereotyping of vocational-occupational education and sex role stereotyping can limit enrollment in vocational and occupational programs. Eight group members…

A class of preschoolers, aged 44-63 months and grouped according to age, sex, sibling position, family size and the occupation of each parent, were the subjects of a 2-part study to examine preschoolers' perceptions of mothers. In the first part of the study, each child was shown 4 sets of pictures depicting a variety of possible mother figures.…

A total of 100 3- and 5-year-old children were trained and assessed individually on the concept of equilateral triangle at three levels of attainment: concrete, identity, and classificatory. Five training conditions existed: (1) visual inspection; (2) visual inspection and verbal orienting instruction; (3) visual inspection, free haptic activity,…

The rationale and development of a new series of motion picture tests of perceptual abilities of young children are described, and preliminary data regarding their reliability and validity are presented. The data suggests that the film tests are promising new perceptual measurement instruments. (MS)

A rationale and procedures are presented for occupational therapy evaluation of the preschooler whose problems suggest dyspraxia. Two evaluative domains are examined: sensory processing (assessment of tactile, proprioceptive, vestibular, auditory and visual functions) and praxis (ideation, motor planning and execution). Procedures include…

Speech perception outcomes in young children with cochlear implants are affected by a number of variables including the age of implantation, duration of implantation, mode of communication, and the presence of a developmental delay or additional disability. The aim of this study is to examine the association between degree of developmental delay…

Recognizing the potential of accountability tests to alter classroom instruction, an overview is provided of the federal government's past influence on educational assessments. The past 50 years has witnessed the function of federally engendered educational assessments shift from monitoring the use of federal funds for programs prescribed for…

Traditional professional development focuses on declarative and procedural knowledge. That is, participants usually learn what to do and how to do it rather than when to do it and why it is important. In McREL's leadership development program, they focus first on providing participants with an overview of research findings found in their…

Background: Many speech and language therapists work in a multilingual environment, making cross-linguistic studies of speech disorders clinically and theoretically important. Aims: To investigate the effect of listeners' linguistic background on their perceptual ratings of hypernasality and the reliability of the ratings. Methods &…

Few studies have specifically investigated the cognitive correlates of employment for persons with mental retardation. To evaluate the relationship of cognitive and adaptive functioning to work status, 56 competitively employed and 55 unemployed individuals with mental retardation underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological and adaptive…

Ninety university undergraduate students were tested on a number of tasks assessing their recognition of possible and impossible figures, mental rotation, ideational fluency, and self-report artistic and creative characteristics. Scores on the Impossible Figures Task (IFT-14) and the Mental Rotation Test, and self-ratings on the Artistic…