Kellogg Elementary School in Hickory Corners, Michigan has developed a special program for gifted students which emphasizes a conceptual, or problem-solving, approach to art. This article outlines the program's objectives, activities, and its five teaching units. Part of a theme issue on art for special needs students. (SJL)

Open education offers much more flexibility for mainstreaming than the traditional approach; open classrooms are designed to accommodate children in their individuality. Making adaptations is not upsetting to open classrooms. If children must go to special classes, the open school tendency toward community blurs boundaries between special and…

The current trend toward regular class placement of exceptional children is discussed in light of the logic and research related to the self-contained special class. (Author)

This study compared the contextual classroom features of public school segregated classrooms and community-based integrated classrooms for 16 preschool children with disabilities, by examining the relations between classroom characteristics and child sociability. The two classroom contexts were found to be similar, with no differences in child…

The study compared teachers' ratings of the mathematics achievement of severely to profoundly hearing impaired Israeli students in special schools, special classes, and mainstream placement. When variables related to communication skills and intellectual potential were controlled, teacher ratings of student mathematical achievement was lower for…

The GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) and A/AS-level examination results for 295 United Kingdom students with blindness/visual impairments were analyzed. GCSE data showed no difference between visually impaired and sighted students, whereas visually impaired students performed better than sighted students on A/AS-level…

This study examined the listener preparatory behaviors (LPBs) of selecting a listener, establishing listener proximity, and obtaining listener attention, as exhibited by 16 preschoolers with moderate to severe disabilities attending three different self-contained programs. It revealed that opportunities for children to display all three LPBs in…

This paper argues for considering the uniqueness of each student with serious emotional/behavioral disorders when deciding on placement. A full continuum of alternatives should be considered, including the possibility that a self-contained class with a low student/teacher ratio may be the least restrictive setting needed to produce successful…

The study found relative independence of the specific components of self-concept in 200 gifted pupils enrolled in self-contained enrichment classes in grades 5 through 8. Self-perceptions of social and scholastic competence and of physical appearance were the major contributors to self-concept. There was no evidence of a developmental process. (DB)

Gifted education in Israel was established 18 years ago and now serves 20,000 pupils. Services include special classes in regular schools, pull-out programs, afternoon enrichment courses and special science courses offered by colleges, universities, and municipalities for Jewish, Arab, and Druze students. (Author/DB)

A survey was conducted of 77 U.S. and Canadian teacher preparation programs in education of hearing-impaired students. Findings indicated that most programs train teachers to work in self-contained settings and that most programs are inadequate for preparing teachers of secondary-level hearing-impaired students. (DB)

This article describes the introduction of writing portfolios to elementary school students with learning disabilities in self-contained special education classrooms. It discusses getting started, contents of the portfolio, instructional goals and objectives, conferences, observations, and portfolio evaluation. (Author/DB)

Analysis of survey responses of elementary and junior high students (n=1,527) in regular, resource, and self-contained special education classrooms found significant main effects for group, grade, and group by grade interactions for amount, type, and time spent doing homework; opportunity to do homework at school; parents' assistance; and…

Data from 162 special education teachers and 31 administrators in restrictive placements for students with serious emotional disturbance (SED) found that reintegration orientation, demographic characteristics of restrictive SED programs, and particular experiences/training of special educators predict reintegration rates of SED students into less…

Two Israeli studies compared a total of 108 elementary or high school students with mild learning disabilities placed in either self-contained or regular classes. The studies found no evidence that student growth was greater in the self-contained class, although these students did tend to have a higher academic self-concept. (Author/DB)