To help children develop social competence, teachers ought to understand differences between popular and unpopular children, know how to assess social competence, and employ techniques which aid the development of children's social skills. In general, popular children have developed skills and strategies which allow them to interact with their…

The first of 11 documents on the Hawaii Integration Project (HIP) of severely disabled students presents information on ways to tailor social studies lessons for lower elementary nonhandicapped students (K-3). The curriculum stresses similarities among students and the importance of students learning from each other. Unit I explores similarities…

The curriculum is an adaptation of a secondary social studies curriculum designed to help nonhandicapped students understand alienation. In Unit I, students explore their personal experiences of alienation either as victims or perpetrators. In lessons 1 and 2 they role play an alienating situation in the classroom and analyze such past experiences…

The AID (Accepting Individual Differences) curriculum guide, the fourth in a series of five manuals that attempt to foster acceptance and respect for differences as exemplified by disabilities, presents activities on the topics of mental retardation (MR) and learning disabilities (LD) for instructors, and lesson plans to be used with primary grade…

Classroom ideas and resource information for teachers in the areas of visual, hearing, and mobility impairments; developmental handicaps; and mental illness are presented. For each disability three topics of discussion are introduced to help the student understand individuals who have the disability. The first discussion area deals with the…

This module (part of a series of 24 modules) is on accommodating exceptional students in the regular classroom. The genesis of these materials is in the 10 "clusters of capabilities," outlined in the paper, "A Common Body of Practice for Teachers: The Challenge of Public Law 94-142 to Teacher Education." These clusters form the…

Describes one teacher's attempt to use storybooks to help her students accept a special needs student in her classroom. Notes that some children's books, however, give the message that diversity makes children different and they must be treated differently. Suggests teachers carefully assess themes in children's literature, as well as their own…

This article presents a rationale for matching social skills intervention strategies to the skill and comfort levels that typically developing children show toward their peers with special needs and provides teachers with guidance on how to accomplish this match. Environmental manipulations that facilitate interactions and peer-mediated strategies…

A step-by-step guide is presented for developing and implementing a social interaction intervention based on a study of an inclusive preschool program. Steps include developing a data collection system, selecting observation time, collecting baseline data, identifying target children, developing social interaction skills intervention, monitoring…

Early childhood teachers, the first contacts outside the family for many children, are in a key position to convey knowledge about adoption and model acceptance of it. As teachers educate themselves about adoption issues, they can foster a positive response to family diversity in the classroom by raising awareness, empowering adopted children, and…

This sourcebook contains advice for the regular classroom teacher who plans to receive a visually impaired child into his or her class. It specifically emphasizes development of positive teacher attitudes. Its style is a combination of narrative exposition and imaginary dialogue between an elementary grade teacher and her school's itinerant…

A program growing from the need for foreign college students to have more contact with native English-speakers matches a university extension program's students of English as a second language (ESL) with American students studying foreign languages at the university level. The ESL students are given the native students' telephone numbers and…

This manual describes the buddy skills training program, which provides teachers with a set of tested strategies designed to facilitate interactions and support the development of friendships between preschoolers with and without disabilities. The training procedures are philosophically based on social exchange theory. To support the concept of…

Recognizing the need to empower children experiencing difficulties in their everyday lives, this book presents activities for healing and recovery designed for classroom or small group use with children ages 3 to 10 years. The activities are intended to guide children into self-directed understanding and processing of experiences and memories,…

This document is a teacher's guide for using The Sexual Decision-Making Series for Teens, consisting of three interactive fiction books that address the following topics for young people: sexual abstinence ("Too Soon for Sex?"), birth control ("Taking Chances with Sex"), and the prevention of sexually transmitted disease…