This handbook is intended as a practical resource guide for students, parents, educators, and other interested persons working together to help students (ages 2-21) who require special education in Fairfax County, Virginia. It summarizes federal and state laws and local school policies regarding special education in several sections. An overview…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 18 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) predicting kindergarten children's success with specific reading methods using group readiness tests; (2) the types of discourse included in basal reading…

This report outlines proposed revisions of state educational priorities and expectations for student performance and requirements for school compliance. The proposed Regents goals for students include skills and characteristics to be acquired, and the action plan focuses on aspects of the instructional program including required courses, content…

The current status and future directions of the field of mental disabilities in Iowa are discussed in the following papers, among others: "Regular Education Initiative and Its Impact on Mental Disabilities" (Carol Bradley); "Mild Mental Retardation Across the Lifespan: Current and Future Considerations" (James Patton);…

Initiated in response to a Congressional requirement in the 1983 amendments to the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, this report provides nationally representative estimates of the per-pupil expense of educating students with disabilities. The estimates are derived from information gathered through a 1985-86 school year survey in a…

This report describes and evaluates the initial effects of the 1984 Texas Education Reform Bill (House Bill 72), in which the Texas legislature enacted a massive attempt to enhance both equity and effectiveness in the State's system of elementary and secondary education. Chapter 1 describes the Bill's various financing components and focuses on…

This paper describes social problems that ethnic minorities are likely to experience in the 1980s and presents guidelines for shaping educational policies and programs that will help ethnic minority youths to experience more educational equity during the remainder of the decade. The minority groups discussed are those that are heavily concentrated…

The curriculum guide provides guidelines for developing academic and living vocational skills in visually handicapped students from preschool to adolescence. The document, divided into two sections, outlines objectives, teaching strategies, and materials for each skill area. Section 1 covers the following academic skills: communication,…

Concerns that parents might have about raising their children bilingually are addressed, and a case study of an Australian family pursuing this course over an 8-year period is presented. In addition, relevant research into bilingualism is cited. Bilingualism means having command of two languages, and bilinguals can range from the rare equilingual…

The Paraprofessional Program of the Institute for Human Development has proven to be an effective means of providing early intervention services in northern Arizona's sparsely populated, culturally diverse rural communities. The program model includes identification and comprehensive professional evaluation of young handicapped children and hiring…

Because Japanese society has traditionally emphasized the group rather than the individual, less research has been done to understand how Japanese culture conceptualizes the individual and how that individual develops within the society. This paper focuses on the individual in Japanese society. Following an introduction (Section I), Section II…

The ten chapters in this volume address issues of concern to those who work with or conduct research with young children and those who plan programs or prepare others for teaching or caregiving. Included are "The Development of Bilingual and Bicultural Competence in Young Children," by Muriel Saville-Troike; "Development of…

This report summarizes findings of an evaluation of Head Start health services. Chapter one presents an overview of the background of the evaluation project. Chapter two highlights findings for the major evaluation questions. These questions focus specifically on children's health status prior to entry into Head Start, health services subsequently…

Maintaining that sexism wastes talents by limiting an individual's choices, the document presents activities for elementary school students to increase awareness of sex roles and a set of inservice materials for training school personnel to teach about sexism. Activities are presented on two levels. Activities for primary grades deal with…

This check list provides a method for observing and recording the development of children aged 1 to 6 and handicapped children in six categories of skills: gross motor development, fine motor development, social, self help, cognitive, and language. The scoring system is designed to provide information on the rate of development in each category;…