Different functions within different forms of aggression were examined in relation to peer-perceived preference and popularity among middle school students. Two hundred and three 7th grade students were nominated by a subset of their grade mates based on indices of likeability, popularity, and aggressiveness. Both linear and curvilinear…

Placing socially rejected handicapped students with popular nonhandicapped students for cooperative nonacademic tasks is one approach to easing handicapped students' transition into the mainstreamed classroom. Teachers can group children according to sociometric techniques. (CL)

The teacher's guide presents a set of seven lessons designed to help students understand friendship and peer relationships. The lessons focus on: (1) the desire to feel loved and accepted; (2) behaviors designed to gain acceptance from others; (3) ways that other people may use one's need for acceptance to influence one's behavior; (4) the…

Approaches to helping nondisabled elementary students examine their feelings in preparation for mainstreaming handicapped children are described, including simulations, activities to provide familiarity with braces and prostheses, use of handicapped adults as guest speakers, and discussions about handicaps. (CL)

The author, born with a severe visual impairment, addresses the tendency of adolescents with visual impairments to try to hide the disability and "pass" as unimpaired with their peers. It is suggested that these adolescents be helped to find a comfortable balance between taking excessive risks and allowing visual impairment or blindness to be an…

Intended for both regular and special educators, the book outlines ways to promote integration between students with severe handicaps and their peers. The first of five sections includes an overview about students with severe handicaps as well as background information on the integration of severely handicapped students. Three chapters in section…

The authors provide information on how school personnel can help provide both opportunities for intergroup relationships and strategies for creating rewarding social interactions between severely handicapped and nonhandicapped students. (SW)

A student attitude questionnaire was given to 1,465 gifted and talented adolescents who identified 5 strategies used to deal with potentially stigmatizing events (cover up, lie, placate, be truthful, and cop-out). The placate coping strategy was the most frequently used across scenarios. (DB)

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…

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

Ten learning-disabled elementary students experiencing peer rejection participated in a 20-week intervention with a contextualist training model. Five of the 10 students' social status was classified as unrejected at the postintervention measure, and there were significant increases in positive peer nominations for males at posttest and 6-month…

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 article outlines practical strategies based on a theoretical model and research support for establishing constructive interaction among mainstreamed handicapped and nonhandicapped students. (SBH)

This study investigated the perceived loneliness, social competence, and social status of 15 sixth-grade students with learning disabilities (LD). Comparison with 68 peers without disabilities found students with LD reported more loneliness, were less popular, and more controversial in their social status than non-disabled peers. Implications for…