The practicum attempted to decrease inappropriate referrals to special education from parents and elementary teachers at a Louisiana elementary school through inservice training for teachers (N=19) and parents (N=43). Training focused on: (1) improving teachers' recognition of characteristics of attention deficit disorder (ADD) and learning…

A product of Project Measurement, this facilitator's manual is designed for an inservice course on the use of measurement in the instructional process for special educators of mentally handicapped students. Project Measurement had three goals: (1) to provide a better measurement system for special education teachers, (2) to encourage a team…

A study was conducted to determine the effects of student locus of control on perceptions of and resistance to teacher influence attempts. Subjects, 302 college students, were provided with 22 sets of Behavior Alteration Messages and were instructed to rate on a 1-5 scale "how frequently your teacher uses statements of each type to get you to…

This issue examines the causes and effects of stress among parents of handicapped children and offers guidance for reducing and/or avoiding stress. The factors contributing to parental stress are identified, including unfounded guilt feelings, prolonged dependency of the handicapped child, extended care requirements, marital discord and family…

This discussion of library services in prisons addresses the following topics: (1) the provision of the New York State Department of Correctional Services for library services to prison inmates as an attempt to make changes in inmate problem-solving abilities; (2) the role of library services in prisons; (3) library entrepreneurship as a new…

Interpersonal power has been defined as the ability of an agent to alter the behavior of a target through means-control, attractiveness, and credibility. To identify and delineate situations of influence in personal relationships, undergraduate students either wrote influence descriptions (N=96), made similarity judgments on the original 96…

The Beltman multi-media traffic safety program was evaluated as an instructional tool in grades K-3. The foremost objective of the Beltman program is to develop the habit of wearing seat belts and to develop positive safety attitudes. Three study groups made up of 550 second grade students were divided into one control and two experimental groups.…

The student text explains stress factors and aids in the development of a personalized stress management program for rural special educators. The text is designed to help teachers analyze personal characteristics that relate to stress producing situations, reasons contributing to those personal characteristics, personal and professional effects of…

This guide provides procedures and supporting materials for conducting a training workshop on sex equity which is intended to expand awareness and knowledge of the effects of sexism and to increase sex-affirmative behavior in the educational environment. Divided into nine sessions, the workshop is targeted at students in junior and senior high…

The investigation assessed the effects of three increasingly inclusive versions of the Behavioral Consultation (BC) model on problem behavior in mainstream classrooms, in an effort to develop an effective and efficient approach to pre-referral intervention. Subjects were 43 general educators, their 43 most difficult-to-teach nonhandicapped…

A case study is presented of Westport Associates, a corporation in Westport, Massachusetts, which operates small group homes for formerly institutionalized men and women with severe disabilities. Westport Associates was founded to create the antithesis of an institution, to treat residents as individuals worthy of respect, and to offer residents…

Research has suggested that didactic and values discussions, life skills training, social skills training, and family intervention can reduce heavy drug use. Because subjects display variability in patterns of behavior change, increased understanding of these individual differences could be beneficial to interventions. A preventive intervention…

How beginning secondary schools teachers shift from university-based to school-based practices was investigated. Thirty-one subjects were followed over a 3-year period through their preparation programs and into their second teaching year. Findings suggested that beginning teachers use conscious selection, processing, and use of information for…

These inservice training materials were developed to address issues arising when parent aides assist parents under stress. Survey data from aides and their supervisors indicated that they wanted to know how to communicate with parents about their children; how to work with families having problems with alcohol, exploitation, and depression; how to…

Children who require modification of curriculum and methods in the regular classroom have often been inappropriately labeled as handicapped, and placed in special education programs to maintain the status quo in the schools. A need exists to break this cycle by training present and future school psychologists in methods of case analysis and…