Eighty-seven children with developmental delays identified in the preschool years (CA 3-4) were followed through elementary school in order to document regular or special education placement, child characteristics associated with placement, and preschool characteristics associated with placement. More than 3/4 of the children were in special education programs through the primary grades, and over 1/2 remained in separate placements throughout their elementary school years. Regular and special education placed groups differed on cognitive, communication, and daily living scores assessed in preschool and at entrance to elementary school. Groups also differed in teachers' perceptions of competencies and problems gathered over the elementary school period. Differences among special education placed groups were limited primarily to cognitive and learning abilities rather than to social/behavioral characteristics.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
American Association on Mental Retardation (1993). A resolution calling for the full inclusion of individuals with disabilities.Washington, D.C.: Author.
2.
Bernheimer, L. P., & Keogh, B. K. (1988). Stability of cognitive performance of children with developmental delays. American Journal of Mental Retardation, 92, 539–542.
3.
Bernheimer, L. P., Keogh, B. K., & Coots, J. J. (1993). From research to practice: Support for developmental delay as a preschool category of exceptionality. Journal of Early Intervention, 17, 97–106.
4.
Casto, G. & Mastropieri. M. (1986). The efficacy of early intervention programs: A meta-analysis. Exceptional Children, 52, 417–424.
5.
Cohen, S. E., Sigman, M., Parmelee, A. H., & Beckwith, L. (1982). Perinatal risk and developmental outcome in preterm infants. Seminars in Perinatology, 6, 334–339.
6.
Council for Exceptional Children. (1993). CEC policy on inclusive schools and community settings. Reston, VA.: Author.
7.
Edgar, E., Hegglund, M., & Fischer, M. (1988). A longitudinal study of graduates of special education preschools: Educational placement after preschool. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 8, 61–74.
8.
Edgar, E., McNulty, B., Gaetz, J., & Maddox, M. (1984). Educational placement of graduates of preschool programs for handicapped children. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 4(3), 19–29.
9.
Gallimore, R., Weisner, T. S., Bernheimer, L. P., Guthrie, D., & Nihira, K. (1993). Family responses to young children with developmental delays: Accommodation activity in ecological and cultural context. American Journal of Mental Retardation, 98, 185–206.
10.
Gallimore, R., Weisner, T. S., Kaufman, S. Z., & Bernheimer, L. P. (1989). Family construction of ecology and everyday activities: How families accommodate developmentally delayed children. American Journal of Mental Retardation, 94, 216–230.
11.
Gallimore, R., Weisner, T. S., Keogh, B. K., Nihira, K., Guthrie, D., & Bernheimer, L. P. (1990). Ecocultural opportunity and family accommodation.Sociobehavioral Research Group, Mental Retardation Research Center, University of California, Los Angeles.
12.
Gesten, E. (1976). A Health Resources Inventory: The development of a measure of the personal and social competence of primary grade children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 44, 775–786.
13.
Goldberg, S. & Marcovitch, S. (1989). Temperament in developmentally disabled children. In G. A. Kohnstaam, J. E. Bates, & M. Rothbart (Eds.), Handbook of temperament in childhood (pp. 387–404). New York: Wiley.
14.
Halgren, D. W., & Clarizio, H. F. (1993). Categorical and programming changes in special education services. Exceptional Children, 59, 547–556.
15.
Harbin, G. L., Gallagher, J. J., & Terry, D. V. (1991). Defining the eligible population: Policy issues and challenges. Journal of Early Intervention, 15, 13–20.
16.
Haring, K., Farron-Davis, F., Goetz, L., Karasoff, P., Sailor, W., & Zeph, L. (1992). LRE and the placement of students with severe disabilities. Journal of the Association of Severe Handicaps, 77(3), 145–53.
17.
Haring, K., Farron-Davis, F., Staub, D., Rogers, J., Porter-Beckstead, S., Karasoff, P., Goetz, L., & Sailor, W. (1993). Factors associated with the integrated educational placement of students with severe disabilities. Journal of the Association for Severe Handicaps, 18(1), 6–15.
18.
Hightower, A. D., Work, W. C., Cowen, E. L.Lotyczewski, B. S., Spinell, A. P., Guare, J. C., & Rohrbeck, C. A. (1986). The Teacher-Child Rating Scale: A brief objective measure of elementary school children's problem behaviors and competencies. School Psychology Review, 15, 393–409.
19.
Kasari, C., Sigman, M., Mundy P., & Yirmiya, N. (1990). Affective sharing in the context of joint attention interactions of normal, autistic, and mentally retarded children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 20, 87–100.
20.
Kasari, C., Sigman, M., Yirmiya, N. (1993). Focused and social attention of autistic children in interactions with familiar and unfamiliar adults: A comparison of autistic, mentally retarded, and normal children. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 401–412.
21.
Keogh, B.K. (1994). What the special education research agenda should look like in the year 2000. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 9(2), 62–69.
22.
Keogh, B. K., Bernheimer, L. P., Haney, M., & Daley, S. (1989). Behavior and adjustment problems of young developmentally delayed children. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 4(2), 79–90.
23.
Lorion, R. P., Cowen, E.L., & Caldwell, R.A. (1975). Normative and parametric analyses of school maladjustment. American Journal of Community Psychology, 3, 291–301.
24.
Marcovitch, S., Goldberg, S., Lojkasek, M., & MacGregor, D. (1987). The concept of difficult temperament in the developmentally disabled preschool child. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 8, 151–164.
25.
McLean, M., Smith, B. J., McCormick, K., Schakel, J., & McEvoy, M. (Dec, 1991). Developmental delay: Establishing Parameters for a Preschool Category of Exceptionality. DEC Position Paper. Reston, VA: CEC.
26.
McDonald, M.A., Mundy, P., Kasari, C. & Sigman, M. (1989). Psychometric scatter in retarded, autistic preschoolers as measured by the Cattell. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.30, 599–604.
27.
Mehan, H., Meihls, J.L., Herweck, A., & Crowdes, M.S. (1981). Identifying handicapped students. In S.B. Bacharach (Ed.), Behavior in Schools and School Districts (pp. 381–428). New York: Praeger.
28.
Neisworth, J. T. & Bagnato, S.J. (1992). The case against intelligence testing in early intervention. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education. 12, 1–20.
29.
Office of Special Education Programs. (1993). Fifteenth annual report to Congress on the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
30.
Salisbury, C. L., Mangini, M., Petrigala, M., Rainforth, B., & Syryca, S. (1994). Promoting the instructional inclusion of young children with disabilities in the primary grades. Journal of Early Intervention, 3, 311–322
31.
Sameroff, A. J., Seifer, R., Barocas, R., Zax, M., Greenspan, S. (1987). Intelligence quotient scores of 4-year-old children: Social-environmental risk factors. Pediatrics, 79, 343–350.
32.
Walker, D. K., Singer, J. D., Palfrey, J. S.Orza, M., Wenger, M., & Butler, J. A. (1988). Who leaves and who stays in special education: A two-year follow-up study. Exceptional Children, 54, 393–402.
33.
Weisner, T. S., Beizer, L., & Stolze, L. (1991). Religion and families of children with developmental delays. American Journal of Mental Retardation, 95, 647–662.
34.
Werner, E. E., & Smith, R. S. (1992). Overcoming the odds: High risk children from birth to adulthood.Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
35.
White, K.R., Taylor, M. T., & Moss, V.D. (1992). Does research support claims about the benefits of involving parents in early intervention programs?Review of Educational Research, 62, 91–125.
36.
Wolf, M.M., Braukmann, C.J., & Ramp, K.A. (1987). Serious delinquent behavior as part of a significantly handicapping condition: Cures and supportive environments. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 20, 347–359.
37.
Zigmond, N. (1996). Organization and management of general education classrooms. In D. L Speece & B.K. Keogh (Eds.), Research on classroom ecologies: implications for inclusion of children with learning disabilities (pp. 163–190). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
