Education Of Handicapped Students Research Articles

Design norms and codes for educational facilities of a new format

ntroduction. The issue of early occupational guidance of children and adolescents is associated with a creation of a new educational environment and the necessity for design of new and refurbishment of existing facilities of extended education (EE) and further vocational education (FVE). The architectural shaping of the educational environment requires consideration of numerous factors, including the arrangement of accessible environment for people with limited mobility (PLM) to provide for development and education of handicapped students. Materials and methods. An analysis of current enactments and design codes for education facilities was made. Based on polling conducted by the authors among teachers, psychologists, speech pathologists and students, non-compliances of the existing functional groups of premises and their dimensions with contemporary methods of education and teaching were found out. By analysis of domestic and foreign design practice, additional functional layout elements (FLEs) were determined. Results. Scientifically based proposals were given, as to the selection of additional FLEs, links were identified to other functional groups and their basic specifications, also proposals were made as to the alteration of regulatory requirements to FLEs. Conclusions. A hypothesis of the demand for new functional areas of education facilities (FLEs of studio spaces) was confirmed. Amendments were proposed to the existing regulatory design basis of EE and FVE facilities, as well as recommendations for issuing of technical design assignments for architects and designers. The scientific novelty comprises new design principles of the architectural environment of EE and FVE facilities under recognition of the revealed factors based on the studies of a range of requirements to the shaping of education facilities of the new type.

Status of Physical Education for Handicapped Students: A Comparative Analysis of Teachers in 1980 and 1988

Results of comprehensive surveys (1980 and 1988) were compared relative to physical education for handicapped students. A direct, self-report methodology was used. Statewide (Ohio) samples of 241 (1980) and 242 (1988) physical education teachers participated. Data indicated that the status of physical education for handicapped students had remained the same. By 1988, only 14% of the teachers had contributed to a multidisciplinary staff for developing IEPs. Teachers’ lack of knowledge of PL 94-142 was revealed in both years, and interest in teaching handicapped students was no better than “neutral/mixed” (1988). A majority of teachers in 1980 and 1988 indicated a general need for assistance in motor behavior assessments. By 1988 a majority of teachers (51%) had not received encouragement/support from their administration. In both years, over 75% believed that handicapped students are excluded from participation in physical education due to “nature of handicap” and “functional ability.” Overall, results in 1980 were reaffirmed in 1988. Teachers lacked the ability to provide appropriate physical education for handicapped students.

MEDIATION IN SPECIAL EDUCATION

This article provides a perspective for viewing mediation in resolving conflicts between parents and school personnel about the education of handicapped students. The appropriateness of mediation as well as its limitations are discussed. Also considered are the current uses of mediation in special education and the legal problems and issues that arise from its use.

Investigations into Technology Integration for the Education of Handicapped Students

Investigations into Technology Integration for the Education of Handicapped Students

Instructional Strategies for Special Education Consultants

In a consulting model, general and special educators collaboratively determine and implement interventions to facilitate the appropriate education of handicapped students. This article presents a model for examining and selecting assessment and instructional strategies for use by the consulting team. Variables affecting the success of mainstreamed handicapped students, including the attitudes and skills of the teacher, student, and student's peers are discussed and effective strategies for assessing and intervening in these variables are proposed. In addition, several general principles are elaborated for use in selecting among possible interventions. These principles include how effectively the skill will generalize to other settings, whether the strategy will benefit other low performing students, the ease of data collection and evaluation, and the ease of implementation. It is suggested that educational plans will have a greater likelihood of successful adoption if their selection is based upon these principles.

Capable of Achievement and Worthy of Respect: Education for Handicapped Students as If They Were Full-Fledged Human Beings

Capable of Achievement and Worthy of Respect: Education for Handicapped Students as If They Were Full-Fledged Human Beings

The integration of students with mild academic handicaps in regular classrooms

One of the most important developments in special as well as regular education over the past fifteen years has been the movement toward integration of students with mild handicaps in regular classrooms. In the United States, the requirement that handicapped students be placed in the 'least restrictive environment' appropriate to their needs was established as part of Public Law 94-I42 in I975, and similar policies have been established in most Western European countries (Dab1 et al., I983; Hegarty et al., I98I; Labr6g~re, I984; National Swedish Board of Education, I98O; Schindele, I977). These policies generally go under the term 'mainstreaming' in North America and 'integration' elsewhere. Integration, or mainstreaming, usually refers to two related but distinct practices. One is the education of handicapped students in regular school buildings, with interaction between handicapped and non-handicapped students largely restricted to lunch, recess, physical education, and so on. This form of integration is now the typical placement for mentally retarded students in most parts of

Assessment for instructional planning.

The provision of an appropriate, individualized education for handicapped students has traditionally involved the use of assessment procedures to determine appropriate learning objectives and teaching strategies. In this article, current approaches to assessment of what to teach and how to teach, and their limitations, are discussed. Suggestions are made for modifications in current approaches to a priori assessment of what to teach in favor of a post hoc procedure that uses frequent student evaluation to provide the database from which decisions regarding modifications of teaching strategies may be made.

Social Mainstreaming of Handicapped Students

Integration and segregation of handicapped students are discussed in conjunction with the shortcomings of Public Law 94—142. Problems in measurement of social acceptance are presented, and sociometric status of various handicapped populations in regular classrooms is reviewed. The literature indicates that exceptional children are typically unpopular among their regular class peers, highlighting the need to consider social acceptance in appropriate education of handicapped students.

Mainstreaming and the Mathematics Classroom

Federal legislation known as Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, was passed in November 1975. This legislation determines regulations and requires actions by school districts and teachers relative to exceptional children. Many have interpreted state legislat ion and PL 94-142 as legislative remedies for some of the schools' past failures to provide an appropriate education for handicapped students. The law's programmatic and budgetary requirements became enforceable in October 1977. Public Law 94-142 mandates that free public education for handicapped students between the age of three and twenty-one begin no later than September 1980. Some exceptions to the mandate do occur, but the implication is that public schools may no longer refuse to admit handicapped students into educational programs.

Court Decisions concerning Special Education

P.L. 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1974 and related regulations.1 Educators should keep up-to-date about recent legal developments affecting the education of handicapped students. Per the quick-quiz technique used for special education decisions' and other active areas of education law,3 the items in the box on pages 41-42 were developed to help the reader determine whether or not his or her knowledge is current in the everchanging area of special education law. The answers to the questions, based on recent court decisions, are explained here. It should be recognized that these answers are subject to jurisdictional limitations and subsequent changes in the law. In cases of an actual controversy, the school attorney should be consulted.

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: Treatment of Hyperactive and Learning Disordered Children D. J. Bakker (eds.) R. M. Knights Helping Your Handicapped Child Janet Carr Helping Sick Children Play Barbara F. Weller Further Education for Handicapped Students K. Dixon, D. Hutchinson (ed.) Teaching Language and Communication to the Mentally Handicapped Ken Leeming, Will Swann, Judith Coupe, Peter Mittler. Working with LARSP David Crystal Edward Arnold. Paediatric Education and the Needs of Exceptional Children Michael J. Guralnick, H. Burtt Richardson Jnr. (ed.) People Not Patients: Problems and Policies in Mental Handicap Peter Mittler Learning About Epilepsy William B. Svoboda No Easy Answers Sally L. Smith

The Diagnostic/Instructional Link in Individualized Education Programs

Enactment of P.L. 94-142 has provided a major impetus to the provision of a free and appropriate education to all handicapped children. A major provision in P.L. 94-142 is the requirement that all handicapped children receiving special education be provided with an Individualized Education Program (IEP). The IEP, therefore, is to incorporate special education, which is defined as "specially designed instruction." Literature pertaining to IEP development states that instruction must be linked to assessment. The present investigation sought to determine the extent to which the long-term goals and short-term instructional objectives of the IEP can be documented as being predicated upon the psychoeducational assessment. The IEPs and corresponding psychoeducational assessments of 243 students identified as educable mentally retarded (EMR), emotionally disturbed (ED), and learning disabled (LD) were collected and analyzed. Results revealed that the goals and objectives of the IEP have limited foundation in the psychoeducational assessment. Specific consequences of this situation are discussed in terms of impact upon the education of handicapped students, as well as suggestions for strengthening the diagnostic/instructional link in IEPs.

Experience-Based Career Education for Handicapped Students

Experience-Based Career Education for Handicapped Students

Adaptations of Outdoor Education for Handicapped Students

Adaptations of Outdoor Education for Handicapped Students

Critical Issues in Career Education for Handicapped Students

This article discusses the career education concept and its need, significant events, critical issues, and recommendations to make it a viable educational thrust for handicapped students. The authors contend that career education should encompass the knowledges, skills, and attitudes needed for the various life roles and settings that comprise an individual's life, including employment. This will require curriculum efforts to be more extensively directed toward teaching daily living, personal-social, and occupational competencies, as well as basic subject skills. Career education includes the academic/work study curriculum design, but it goes one more step by requiring all teachers to relate their subject matter to its career implications. In addition, it requires a shared responsibility and cooperative relationship among all school disciplines and substantial involvement of parents and community agencies and industries in all phases of education.

The Logic and the Law for Parent Participation in the Education of Handicapped Students

The Logic and the Law for Parent Participation in the Education of Handicapped Students

Personnel Preparation for Career Education of Handicapped Students

Personnel Preparation for Career Education of Handicapped Students

Vocational Education's Role in Career Education for Handicapped Students

Vocational Education's Role in Career Education for Handicapped Students