Instead of diagnosing students' individual learning styles, a Seattle eighth grade teacher tries to help students become more aware of their own styles and develop strategies for dealing with the diverse demands of school and life in general. Students learn about style through informal debriefing of class activities and through formal instruction…

Dispelling the myth that beginning teachers are fully equipped to handle the demands of their professions begins by acknowledging that the first months and years of teaching are full of pain, confusion, loneliness, and often humiliation. Schools can help by fostering beginner peer groups and encouraging early professional development and…

Studied evaluations of sessions and videotape-assisted reviews in 24 cases. Found that helpfulness ratings, intentions, and reactions were consistent across sessions and reviews. Positive mood increased after sessions but decreased after reviews. Other findings suggest that videotape-assisted reviews, helpfulness ratings, intentions, and reactions…

Presents interview with Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of international hospice care movement. Saunders describes her background and experiences that led her to form the hospice movement and discusses the need for pain control for terminally ill patients. Saunders also notes her opposition to euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. (NB)

Presents a cost-benefit analysis of a supported-employment program using natural support strategies to assist 59 workers with severe disabilities in integrated employment settings. Results suggest substantial benefits to participants, the taxpayer, and society resulting from the choice of a natural support approach over the sheltered workshop…

The role of the case manager today is explored through interviews with human-services professionals. Identifies eight themes that describe the case manager's work and skills: multiple roles, organizational abilities, communication skills, setting-specific knowledge, ethical decision making, boundaries, objectivity, and personal qualities.…

Transference is unconscious displacement of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors from previous relationships onto a new relationship, and can intensify college faculty/student relationships. Analysis of 350 items in the college teaching and transference literatures provides a conceptual foundation for understanding this phenomenon in the classroom,…

A study examined the amount and types of responses to homework assignments reported by 577 parents of academically talented elementary students. Students completed homework with few negative responses. While homework assignments increased with grade level, the amount of time parents spent assisting with homework did not increase beyond first…

Discusses the importance of mentoring programs for children, particularly for especially creative gifted children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. It describes characteristics for a successful mentor relationship and ways mentors can help in the expression and development of positive creativity in children. (CR)

Describes the role of a paraeducator, a person who works in a school in an instructional capacity alongside school professionals and is supervised by the licensed professional. Required training, paraeducator characteristics, and how the presence of a paraeducator changes the role of the teacher are discussed. (CR)

Studied the effects of the cooperative teaching method on the development of social helping behavior in 4 groups of 11-year-olds, 95 in all. Results indicate that it is possible to promote helping behavior if the children are given the opportunity to practice with several other children, but not if they always work with the same child. (SLD)

Describes the implementation of Student Assistance Program (SAP) support groups in one middle school and one elementary school. The Health Education department administers the program and licensed school counselors serve in local schools as program counselors. Discusses support group offerings, the procedures used in SAP support groups, and…

A pilot study evaluated the viability of trained co-workers (n=12) providing direct job training and support to 10 individuals with mental retardation. Employment outcomes for consumers with co-worker support were as good as for those with job coach support. Consumers also experienced high levels of involvement with co-workers. (Contains…

A peer-mediated intervention was used to improve the social skills of 3 children with autism (ages 5 to 13). The intervention paired each child with a nondisabled peer who initiated interaction persistently within the autistic children's usual school setting. The autistic children demonstrated more frequent interactions and more positive and…

Using a cross-sectional analysis of 250 white individuals, 70-103 years of age, this article questions whether a vertical family structure is found with increasing age. Findings indicate, among other things, that at least until age 90 the proportion of individuals with a vertical family structure with four generations never exceeds the numbers of…