The intent of this study was to discover if education is experiencing the problems medicine has encountered as a specialized profession. An analysis of supply and demand studies shows continuing high demand for and moderate shortages of educational specialists. Both generalists and specialists are concerned about defining and delimiting roles and responsibilities. Evidence of negative effects of specialization is scant, but certain problems appear to be common--"dumping" of problem students, over-referral, and lack of parent involvement. Exploratory studies of generalist-specialist interaction were carried out with 66 teachers and 22 physicians. Interviews focused on referral practices and problems; teachers agree less about grounds for referral and have more problems than physicians following up on referrals. Teachers lack a responsive system for handling feedback and also sense more client difficulties during referrals. Recommendations include: improving communication among educational generalists and specialists; reducing "dumping"; making record keeping systems more responsive; and increasing public involvement in planning for specialist services. (Author/JD)