To disrupt the escalating "arms race" between violent students and their schools, at least 5,000 U.S. elementary and secondary schools now use 1 of several conflict resolution models, including peer mediation, comprehensive whole-school programs, and curricular approaches (violence prevention and law-related education) designed for at-risk…

This study applied computer-assisted instruction (CAI) techniques to improve peer acceptance among 92 mainstreamed students with mild disabilities from 10 to 13 years of age. Participants in the treatment group received their generalized curriculum program (including mathematics, language arts, reading, health, social studies, and science)…

The impact of teachers' interventions upon social interactions between 40 severely retarded elementary school students and their nonhandicapped peers was studied. Intervention initially positively affected social play behavior, but these effects diminished or reversed as intervention continued, suggesting that intervention should be slowly…

A study of 18 children with behavioral problems in inclusive elementary classrooms examined the effects of self-evaluation using videotapes of the children's interactions with their peers. Results showed increases in appropriate interactions for children with internalizing behavioral problems and decreases in inappropriate interactions for those…

Twenty-four socially rejected children were coached on the importance of displaying behaviors known to be used by peers in making inferences of liking and then were encouraged to communicate these behaviors toward selected friendship targets within their own classroom groups. Significant treatment-related improvements were found in these…

This article analyzes research on children's perceptions of emotional and behavioral difficulties. Virtually all studies concur that peers hold negative views of externalizing behavior problems. Findings suggest that professionals need to target peer-identified behavioral and social skill goals and develop programming aimed at normalization to…

This article examines the need to consider social interactional processes in the development of interventions to address the adjustment of aggressive and disruptive youth with mild disabilities. Misconceptions surrounding peer rejections and problem behaviors are identified, and are considered in relation to research on the social relations of…

The hypothesis was tested that humor facilitates social attraction. Students in three fourth-grade classrooms responded to two different peer rating surveys, one measuring interpersonal perceptions of humorousness and the other measuring classroom social distance. Differences between same- and cross-gender ratings were examined. Statistical…

Examined were relationships between children's popularity and: (1) the types of solutions children generated to common social dilemmas; (2) what they reported they would do in similar situations; (3) their statements regarding conflict participants' intent; and (4) what they expected to happen next in conflict situations. Subjects were 95…

The final report describes the results of the first year of a 3-year project investigating the effects of using handicapped students as tutors. Detailed descriptions are provided of two main experiments in which learning disabled and intellectually handicapped students tutored students from the regular classroom in sign language and reading. Both…

Educable mentally retarded children were mainstreamed into regular elementary school classes. Experimental subjects worked on a multimedia project with four to six nonretarded classmates. After eight weeks of treatment, the nonretarded children's acceptance of their experimental peers improved significantly more than that of the control children.…

A school-based short-term intervention used successfully with impulsive, aggressive, shy, oversensitive, attention-disordered, and language- and learning-disabled elementary school students features exercises and activities such as generating ideas, rehearsing behaviors, and adapting behaviors to help students learn to "enter" play groups and join…

Five elementary schools were studied to investigate the way teachers used peer interactions to facilitate the inclusion of a student with moderate or severe disabilities. Strategies included encouraging peers to work with students with disabilities, treating the student as "just another student;" encouraging age-appropriate interactions, and…

This study describes the use of self-management procedures to improve the productivity of two women with mild mental retardation who worked in restaurants. Substantial improvements were observed as a function of treatment, and the procedures were deemed acceptable by the participants, their coworkers, and their supervisors. (Author/CR)

High school or college students serve as sports tutors for unpopular elementary school boys. Once the child's skill level is adequate, the child is placed in an important position the next time a game is played. Treated children are often described as more self-confident, happier, and less disruptive in class. (LKS)