Exceptional Children

A 2-year follow-up study assessed the stability of special education students' mobility, status, and classification labels. A total of 1,184 students were selected in fall 1982 from the elementary special education programs of three cities. Two years later, 92% remained in their school district. Of these, 71% stayed in special education with the same classification, 12% remained with a different classification, and 17% were no longer receiving special education services. The child's original primary classification was the strongest predictor of reclassification and termination. Family background contributed most to mobility. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

The consulting teacher model is receiving increasing attention in state departments of education and local school districts. It offers possibilities for improving educational service in the mainstream to mildly handicapped children and other children at risk and is consonant with the current regular/special education initiative being promoted by the federal government. It also is consistent with reform strategies urging creation of master teachers. Because of its intuitive attractiveness, a risk exists that the model will be implemented prematurely on a statewide level. Among the likely and undesirable side-effects of hasty implementation are ineffective caseload management, conversion of the model into yet another tutoring model, premature replacement of the resource model, inadequate training of both regular and special educators, neglect of financial and program evaluation, and insufficient funding support from regular education. To increase the odds of successful implementation, states must accommodate multiple goals for the model, create administrative incentives that do not undermine it, and assure adequate preparation of teachers as consulting teachers. Without sufficient attention, resources, and planning, the consulting teacher model will fail to achieve its potential.

The peer interactions and cognitive levels of play of mildly developmentally delayed preschool children were compared as they participated in mainstreamed and in specialized settings. When in mainstreamed playgroups, delayed children engaged in a substantially higher rate of peer-related social behaviors and played more constructively. In relation to previous findings, these results suggested that the proportion of nonhandicapped children in mainstreamed settings and the availability of children similar in chronological age to the delayed children are important programmatic factors in early childhood mainstreaming efficacy research. The potential value of mainstreamed settings as a framework for more systematic and individual treatment programs for mildly developmentally delayed preschool children also was discussed.

This article examines the impact of modifications in the identification of EMR students and in programming for them, following Diana, Larry P., and P.L. 94–142. These policy changes were designed to afford greater educational equity; but evidence has shown that minority children are not well served as a result. Further, the subsequent movement toward educational excellence in the schools appears to have imposed on marginally achieving students standards that almost ensure school failure. Continued vigilance is proposed on behalf of minority EMR and marginally achieving students.

This study explored the relationship between classroom teachers' self-reported tolerance levels for maladaptive behavior in their classrooms and experienced supervisors' evaluations of the teachers' effectiveness. Teachers were assessed on the Teacher Effectiveness Evaluation Form (TEEF), covering research-based practices for effective instruction for low-achieving students. Self-report instruments measured teachers' tolerance for maladaptive behavior and their propensity to resist placement of handicapped students in their classes. Those teachers with the most effective teaching strategies for low-achieving students tended to report (a) that they tolerate less maladaptive behavior in their classrooms and (b) that they may actively resist placement of handicapped students in their rooms.

Two highly contrasting models of early education for mildly handicapped children, Direct Instruction and Mediated Learning, were compared in a randomized design. A systematic classroom observation system validated differences between the two programs. Both programs evidenced gains for pupils, but with a differential effect for specific measures: Direct Instruction led to greater gains on the Test of Early Language Development and the Basic Language Concepts test; whereas Mediated Learning led to greater gains on the McCarthy Verbal and Memory Scales and Mean Length of Utterance. No significant aptitude-by-treatment interactions were obtained.

A method for assessing the relationship between supervisory behavior and staff burnout was developed and tested in two schools for mentally retarded children. The method uses a new instrument, the Supervisor Behavior Observation Scale. The two schools involved in the study differed significantly in level of staff burnout, as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and in supervisory behavior. Specifically, the principal of the low burnout staff interacted less frequently with others and spent less time observing staff in their classrooms. Instead, she spent more time in her office engaged in planning and coordinating activities. She also interacted more with her own superior. The low burnout principal also talked more and listened less, and she spent more time discussing work-related problems but less time discussing administrative issues. She also gave staff more emotional support but spent less time in “small talk” with them.

Two groups of preschool children (9 handicapped, 9 nonhandicapped) were observed, with the focus on frequency of interactions with teachers and peers. Teachers rated temperaments of each child, using a derivation of the Thomas and Chess Teacher Temperament Scale, producing scores on task orientation, personal-social flexibility, and reactivity. Teachers rated handicapped children (compared with nonhandicapped) as low in task orientation and flexibility, and as underreactive or overreactive. For both groups of children, positive temperament patterns were related to frequency of interactions with peers—and for nonhandicapped children, to frequency of child-teacher interactions. Teachers interacted more with those handicapped children with negative than with positive temperament profiles.