The article examines several issues regarding the education of gifted and talented students, by answering letters sent in by readers of the journal. Issues examined include private v public schools, teacher resentment of gifted children, coping with being "different," special classes, and enrichment programs. (DLS)

The reality in many school environments is that overweight children face ridicule and rejection. Focusing on size as one facet of human diversity can help diffuse prejudice against the overweight. Other strategies to discourage teasing and unkindness are suggested. (SLD)

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…

The third of six volumes in the series on the Making Special Friends Project (designed to increase interactions between handicapped students and their peers), describes an inservice training program to help implement the model. Suggested steps in organizing and preparing to implement the model are outlined, and a plan for inservice training is…

The fourth of six volumes on the Making Special Friends Project, an approach to promoting social interactions between severely handicapped students and nonhandicapped persons in the school and community, details procedures for implementation. The first section discusses a cornerstone of the project, the expanded Individualized Education Program…

The article looks at the role of play and recreation in the lives of children with learning disabilities and suggests ways parents can help integrate such children into recreation and sports programs. The importance of three systems of support--the family, the school, and the peer group--is stressed. Parents are urged to work toward providing the…

Three interpersonal patterns are described as one way to classify types of gifted students with social problems: disapproval, entitlement, and unmet expectations. Examples of student behavior and counseling implications of each pattern are noted. (CL)

Since children with cancer have increasingly greater chances of survival and, with modern treatment methods, may be able to return to school, the classroom teacher must come to terms with personal emotions about the student. Members of the school staff should meet to make plans for continuing the education of the child who has cancer. (JN)

Thirteen programmatic factors are identified and considered for their role in fostering social integration in mainstreamed settings. (CL)

This survey of local education agencies (N=40) examines educational placement of visually impaired students and related factors that might be helpful in development of placement procedures for day school programs. Widespread acceptance of multiply handicapped children in day school programs appears to be affecting educational placement and related…

This article considers educational implications of a child with cancer, including incidence, telling the child about his/her disease, school reentry, what classmates want to know, counseling the child with cancer, handling the issue of death, and staff issues. A lesson plan on childhood cancer for elementary students is also included. (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…

The activity book is designed to assist school counselors in preparing nonhandicapped persons to interact in a positive manner with the handicapped. An introductory section defines the term handicapped, offers program management guidelines, considers needs assessment, and describes three counseling models (peer helper, classroom guidance, and…

Asserting that inclusion of diverse children in schools is desirable, the article presents recommendations for instruction of heterogeneous groups. Suggestions center around such topics as class size, individualized instruction, multidimensional classrooms, student self-management, opportunities to respond and learn, a positive and accepting…

Describes the metropolitan Nashville Peer Buddy Program, a high school program that attempts to remove scheduling barriers to inclusion by providing daily class times in which participating general-education and special-education students may interact. Seven steps to starting a peer-buddy program are provided. (CR)