The Journal of Special Education

One of the most common problems experienced by elementary school children is attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADD-H). Although this syndrome is defined by the American Psychiatric Association in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (3rd ed.) (DSM III), much of the research regarding its validity as a diagnostic category has been generated after publication of DSM II1. This article reviews the research findings related to the various forms of intervention or treatment commonly employed in work with ADD-H children. Among the topics addressed are direct observation studies, drug treatment, drug effects on academic achievement, diet interventions, behavior modification, cognitive behavior modification, and metacognition and executive control. Practical implications of the research data are suggested for educators and school psychologists who do their work in school environments.

In two experiments, students learned the hardness levels of minerals via either direct instruction or a pictorial mnemonic technique. In Experiment 1, the subjects were 56 learning-disabled high school students who were taught one of the methods in small groups. In Experiment 2, the subjects were eight educable mentally retarded junior high school students who were individually administered both methods in a crossover design. In both experiments, students given mnemonic instruction substantially outperformed direct instruction subjects.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relative effectiveness of visual spatial displays to enhance comprehension of important information during instruction with adolescent learning-disabled students. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups. One group was taught by presenting key concepts with a visual spatial display of this information. The other group was taught the same information except that content was presented by texts. Both treatment groups studied in a group task structure. Six experimenter-made tests were developed for this study. Five tests directly measured student mastery of the content taught, whereas the other test was a transfer measure. Results favored the group taught with a visual spatial display on the short-term recall tests, but no differences were found on the transfer or maintenance tests. The discussion focuses on how teachers can improve comprehension instruction for the less skilled student.

Characteristics of classroom placements were studied for a probability sample of approximately 950 special needs children enrolled in kindergarten through sixth grade in five major metropolitan school districts. Across all special education students, 58% spent the majority of their school day in a regular class, 38% spent the majority of their school day in a special class, and 4% attended special schools. The regular classes in which special education children were enrolled resembled other regular classes in overall size and student composition. By contrast, special classes were smaller and more heterogeneous, and classes in special schools were especially small and heterogeneous. The proportion of time spent in regular education varied significantly both by the child's primary handicap and the school district in which the child lived, but sizable variations also were found within disability groups and within districts. For learning-disabled, mentally retarded, and physically/multiply handicapped children, variations in placement were found to be associated with student socioeconomic status and race or ethnicity.

The study evaluated differences in the judged upsettingness and frequency of occurrence of 22 stressful life events among 503 fourth- to sixth-grade, urban and suburban school children. Children first judged the upsettingness of each event for age peers. Next, they indicated which events they had experienced personally and rated their personal level of upset with each event experienced. Except for the items, "school suspension" and "being sent to the principal," on which boys exceeded girls, there were no sex differences in events experienced. Girls, however, judged stressful events to be markedly more upsetting than boys, both cognitively and experientially. Urban children experienced more stressful events than suburban children and judged them, experientially, to be more upsetting.

The purposes of this study were to determine whether there were differences between regular and special educators in their perceptions of manageability of common problem behaviors and which behaviors were identified as most problematic. Forty-four regular and 65 special education teachers completed the Behavior Manageability Scale, a 39-behavior, 11-cluster checklist of problem behaviors. A multivariate analysis of variance indicated no significant differences among groups, with the socially withdrawn, inattention and work organization behavioral clusters rated as most difficult to manage by each group. Implications for teacher education and referral and placement policies are discussed.

A group of special education resource teachers (n = 25) were paired with regular educators (n = 25) who worked in the same school building. Regular educators were asked to respond to an opinionnaire designed to obtain their perceptions of six factors associated with the mainstreaming process. Special educators were asked to attempt to predict the responses of regular education colleagues to this opinionnaire. Results indicated that special educator predictions were not significantly different from regular educator responses on five of the six factors. Significant differences were obtained, however, on one factor : willingness to teach the handicapped. Implications for special education resource room and consultation programs and for further research are discussed.

This study examines estimates of violent and property crimes. Seventy-five special education teachers from 21 Illinois counties and 30 school districts identified the most common violent and property crimes among their special education students, estimated the prevalence of crime victimization, as well as delinquency among their special education students.

Student disability type and delinquency risk level were examined and compared. The results indicated a significant difference between learning-disabled and behaviorally disordered victims of violence. A comparison of special education teacher crime rankings and the Crime in Illinois: Illinois Uniform Crime Report's rankings yield a +1.00 Spearman Rank-Order Correlation. These findings were interpreted as indicating a need for more in-depth federal and state crime reporting methods. Also, this study indicates a need for education aimed at reducing the vulnerability of the handicapped student as both victim and perpetrator of crime.

The purpose of this study was to empirically identify and describe critical success factors (CSFs) of local special education administrators and to determine the extent to which these factors differed across organizational and demographic variables. The study additionally determined the differences in critical success factors of a nominated group of effective administrators with a random sample of local special education administrators. A nominating process led to the selection of 14 administrators from 250, considered from various structures, sizes, and settings. Interviews (personal and telephone) gave rise to a set of factors and measures considered critical to the success of the administrators and their programs. These factors were then used to construct a survey instrument which was sent to the remaining effective nominees and a random sample of local special education administrators.

The findings supported the premise that the effective administrators were more concerned about how they and their programs were a part of the larger cultural context of the schools than the random respondents.

This article reviews the theory and practice of contemporary special education in the Soviet Union. It focuses on the current state and tendencies in development of basic theoretical concepts, methods of screening, and organizational structure of special education in the Soviet Union. Some comparison with American theoretical considerations and practical approaches to the same problems are provided.