Intended for parents, the handbook explores the nature of and rationale for integration with young disabled children. Social and instructional integration are defined and similarities with mainstreaming are noted. Answers are provided to commonly asked questions, such as whether nonhandicapped students begin to imitate behaviors of handicapped…

Many deaf students become perennial "outsiders," never really becoming an integral part of their mainstream classrooms. Factors contributing to this may include family dynamics, teacher attitudes, and lack of interactions between deaf and hearing children. Parents can promote their child's integration, through accessing home, school, and community…

A mother describes the decision-making and the process involved in mainstreaming her five-year-old hearing-impaired son into a mainstream kindergarten program. The parents considered input from other parents and the need to achieve true social integration in the mainstream setting. (DB)

This manual makes a case for cooperative (as opposed to competitive) play among disabled and nondisabled children. Part 1, which concerns the philosophy involved, discusses the rationale for cooperative games, the importance of play, cooperative games as an alternative, components of cooperative games, structure of cooperative games, and…

A parent describes how presenting information on what it is like to have a disability to his son's teacher and fifth grade classmates helped his Down Syndrome son to adjust to a new school and achieve acceptance. The success of this strategy should encourage other parents to make comparable efforts. (JC)