Six case studies investigated the outcomes of inclusive education on six children with mild mental retardation. In five cases, teachers had attempted to modify their programs to provide individualized instruction for high-risk children. All six children made very poor academic progress and five were poorly accepted socially by their classmates.…

Reports on a program that brought together older adults (n=12) with dementia and preschool children (n=14) in one-on-one interactions, using Montessori activities. Experience indicates that older adults with dementia can still serve as effective mentors and teachers to children in an appropriately structured setting. (RJM)

Describes the use of technology at the Minnesota New Country School, a project-based, non-profit public charter secondary school. Discusses the project-based curriculum, including student self-paced projects that must relate to Minnesota's performance standards; the cooperative of teachers who provide services to the school; and personalized…

A home-based interventionist effectively taught four mothers to embed the mand-model procedure in daily activities to teach expressive language skills to their young children with speech delays. During the intervention phase, parents were provided with feedback along with specific encouragement to use the individualized instructional program…

This article offers an alternative to the term "natural environment" in which delivery of individualized services consistent with family needs and values is of first-order importance. It is argued that the use of authentic intervention activities will produce better outcomes than focusing on placements that must include chronologically aged peers.…

Suggests that distance education advocates and critics alike should learn that responding to learners' needs for independent learning is a fundamental principle. Discusses learner autonomy; new admirers of distance education; lack of sensitivity to individual learning differences and the increased use of streaming media; and the position of Dr.…

Explores how the middle school concept is designed to make two seemingly contradictory goals compatible, those of providing a common core curriculum while meeting individual needs. Suggests that, similar to team sports or musical groups, it is possible to allow students to exercise personalized choices of how to meet the common objectives of the…

The philosophy of one California middle school is predicated on providing support whenever needed. Aspiring to provide its Hispanic students with far more than survival skills, the successful school boasts a bilingual staff, personalized instruction, family-outreach programs, and an engaging student- centered curriculum. (MLH)

Tests the hypothesis that personalized messages in a multimedia science lesson can promote deep learning by actively engaging students in the elaboration of the materials and reducing processing load. Instructional messages were presented in either a personalized style or a neutral style. Results reveal that personalized messages produced better…

Interviews were conducted with 92 parents and practitioners to examine their views of quality inclusive child care. Findings confirmed the two-dimensional view of quality inclusion to encompass both general early childhood practices and individualization. For each dimension, program features, resources, strategies, and outcomes associated with…

Many positive and negative consequences of high-stakes testing for students with disabilities are alleged. Yet, there is little evidence on actual consequences. Both anecdotal and empirical evidence were reviewed with regard to increased participation in assessment, raised expectations, provision of appropriate assessment accommodations, alignment…

This article provides an overview of identification of appropriate testing accommodations for students with learning disabilities (LD). First it defines the concept of testing accommodations and review research on test accommodations commonly used with students with LD. Next it examines the validity and fairness in accommodations, as well as the…

This paper reports a small-scale study conducted with 34 primary-school teachers in Hong Kong to determine how they meet the personal and academic learning needs of students officially identified with specific learning disability (SpLD) in their classes. Information was collected from the teachers via a structured questionnaire listing possible…

Advanced 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students at the Gifted Resource Center (GRC) in a suburban Chicago public school district are regularly engaged in various types of activities. The GRC uses language arts units for high ability students created and developed as a base curriculum at the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary.…

The purpose of this paper was to understand how Turkish mothers make meaning of the disability of their children with Mental Retardation (MR). Thirteen Turkish mothers who had at least one child with MR were the participants of the study. A qualitative interpretive framework was used for collecting and analyzing the data. The data were gathered…