OBJECTIVE To determine whether the proportion of time spent in an inclusive educational setting, a process indicator of the quality of schooling for children with autism, improves key outcomes. METHODS Patients were 484 children and youth educated in special education with a primary diagnosis of autism in the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2. These individuals were ages 20 to 23 in 20...

Interaction with peers is an important contributor to young children's social and cognitive development. Yet, little is known about the nature of social networks within preschool inclusive classrooms. The current study applied a social network analysis to characterize children's peer interactions in inclusive classrooms and their relations with children's disability status. The participants wer...

This study investigated the influences of learning styles/preferences, prior computer skills and experience with online courses on adult learners’ knowledge acquisition in a web-based special education course. Forty-six adult learners who enrolled in a web-based special education course participated in the study. The results of the study showed that (a) learning styles/preferences had significa...

This study attempted to improve upon previous qualitative research by conducting a large scale, quantitative study on the parental experience in special education. 76 parents of children receiving special education services were surveyed regarding their communication with school personnel, the focus of their child’s education, involvement in the IEP meeting, and satisfaction. It was found that ...

The effects of self-monitoring on the procedural integrity of token economy implementation by 3 staff in a special education classroom were evaluated. The subsequent changes in academic readiness behaviors of 2 students with low-incidence disabilities were measured. Multiple baselines across staff and students showed that procedural integrity increased when staff used monitoring checklists, and...

Since 1975 all children with disabifities specifically delineated by law have had available to them “a free, appropriate public education that includes special education and related services to meet their unique needs.” This access has been made possible by the passage of Public Law 94-142,’ The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. This law was amended in October 1990 with passag...

The goal of the present study was to examine the precursors of verbal working memory in 52 children with cerebral palsy with varying degrees of speech impairments in the first grade of special education. Following Baddeley's model of working memory, children's verbal working memory was measured by means of a forced-recognition task. As precursors of verbal working memory, measures of intelligen...

The development of adaptive skills is determined by factors inherent to a person, as well as by opportunities and expectations of the socio-cultural environment in which the person grows up. This paper analyses the adaptive behaviour of children with mild intellectual disability (MID) living with families or in institutions for children without parental care. The sample consisted of 95 children...

As the parent of a child qualified for special education services under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), I have often felt a lingering sense of apprehension when encountering some of the school personnel. At the same time I align myself with educational professionals because I, too, have worked in schools as both a general and special educator. Perplexed by this apparent ...

C ost is an inevitable, but often overlooked and uncounted, consequence of environmental contamination. Any degradation of the environment, whether it is contamination of air or water, pollution of landfills by toxic waste or exposure of children to hazardous chemicals, carries costs. Among these costs are: 1) direct medical expenses for persons made ill by toxic exposures; 2) indirect health-r...