Les Sternberg

Establishing Interactive Communication Behaviors with Profoundly Mentally Handicapped Students.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the effectiveness of specific prelanguage communication programming techniques on the development of communication awareness behaviors of four profoundly mentally handicapped students. Results indicate that the procedures were effective and that, in the majority of cases, the communication awareness behaviors generalized to other situations and individuals. Problems related to defining communication awareness behaviors and communicative stimuli, as well as issues pertaining to generalization, are discussed.

The Insignificance of Psycholinguistic Training: A Reply to Kavale:

The debate continues concerning the efficacy of psycholinguistic or process training for handicapped students. Typically, reports either supporting or refuting such training have taken the form of summary accounts of previously conducted experimental or descriptive research programs (e.g., Hammill & Larsen, 1974; Minskoff, 1975). These authors usually judged the results of the various studies as to their support or rejection of process training and then made an “all-or-nothing’’ statement concerning the validity of such training. The fact that most recent research on the topic has been a summary account of past research (i.e., primarily pre-1975) is perhaps indicative of the general lack of support or interest in the area. Recently, Kavale (1981) reopened the case. Based upon his belief that prior “piecemeal analysis” of process training validity cannot truly address the issue, he opted for a different type of statistical approach to analyze data obtained from individual studies of the process training procedure.

Measurement in Educational Research.

Measurement is an essential element of education research. It is of extreme importance for determining the efficacy and legitimacy of educational practices that are now operationalized without benefit of professional consensus. Measures can be evaluated on the basis of multiple criteria; a discussion of the more important of these criteria is offered. Measures that prove viable are of special importance in three areas: the evaluation of students, communication among educators, and the investigation of hypotheses. Within the definition that is offered, measurement procedures may involve a variety of formats; these are briefly reviewed and evaluated.

Students with Visual Impairments

Psychologists and educators have speculated that 90% to 95% of the perceptions of sighted children come from vision (Hatlen & Curry, 1987). When vision is deficient, it may or may not have a significant effect upon students’ school performance. If the vision problem is severe enough to affect school functioning, students need some type of assistance in dealing with school content. Over the years, there has been some confusion concerning the general characteristics of students with visual impairments and the overall handicapping effect of the impairment itself. Much of this confusion can probably be attributed to misunderstandings concerning what the actual effect of the impairment is on students’ abilities to use their vision.

Students Who Are Gifted and Talented

Information related to those individuals who possess superior characteristics in one or more areas should be included in any discussion of exceptional students. These students, referred to as gifted and talented, require special education that provides them with an opportunity to develop those superior skills. In recent years considerable attention has been given to the appropriate education of gifted and talented students.

Students with Mental Retardation

Over the years, we have learned a tremendous amount about mental retardation. The history of mental retardation is, in fact, quite long, and as a result there are many concepts and concerns that should be discussed. It is indeed fortunate that this area has received so much attention; however, it is probably due to this attention that new questions have arisen that remain to be answered.

Introduction to Special Education: Historical and Legal Foundations

This book is about the characteristics and educational needs of exceptional students. It is also about teaching exceptional students—what the teacher and other professionals can do to educate these students to the maximum extent possible. Teaching exceptional students is a challenging, rewarding, and sometimes frustrating endeavor. Through research and continued teaching, we are constantly discovering more and more about the characteristics, capabilities, and educational needs of exceptional students. Similarly, we have learned a great deal about the educational approaches to use with these students. Unfortunately, much of the information regarding the “best” approach to use to meet their educational needs is contradictory and somewhat confusing. Indeed, we may have to accept the fact that there is no single approach, theory, or philosophy that gives us all the answers. Clearly, we must look carefully into the professional literature to determine the approaches, models, and techniques that have been demonstrated to be successful with students who have certain characteristics and educational needs. It also is important to define as precisely as possible those students who are considered exceptional and to determine the number of these students who will receive some type of special education program.

Students with Learning Disabilities

The historical roots of the field of learning disabilities go back over 150 years, even though the term is one of the most recent in the area of special education. Lerner (1985) divided the history of learning disabilities into four distinct periods. These included the foundation phase (1800–1930), which emphasized basic scientific research related to the brain, and the transition phase (1930–1960) during which time the brain research was applied to the study of children. More recent phases were the integration phase (1960–1980) at which time learning disabilities were recognized within school programs, and the contemporary phase (1980 to the present), which reflects emerging and future directions. When these phases are studied more closely, two important points are noted. First, the field of learning disabilities had its origins firmly implanted within a medical model. For example, an evolution of medically related terms were used to describe children who were having learning and behavioral problems. These included brain injured, perceptually handicapped, minimal brain dysfunction, and the Strauss syndrome. Even today, there are vestiges of this theoretical base applied in the schools. The second point is that the actual acknowledgment of the term learning disability as an educational disability is relatively recent. In fact, the history of the actual term learning disability is relatively short yet extremely complex.

Teaching Students with Mental Retardation

The education of students with mental retardation has an interesting history. As noted in chapter 1, formal attempts at education date back to the 1700s. Tremendous changes have taken place over the years, especially in the types of education that have been emphasized and the places in which that education has been offered. All these changes have resulted from a combination of what educators have desired, what research has shown, and what students with mental retardation have needed.

Students with Behavioral or Emotional Problems

The education of students with behavioral or emotional problems is an area of considerable controversy. The definition, characteristics, identification procedures, and teaching approaches for this category of exceptional student are all sources of disagreement. In fact, there is even controversy over the term that should be used to describe these students. Emotional disturbance, emotional handicap, and behavior disorders are but a few terms that are used in educational settings. When one considers other settings (e.g., psychiatric) and the severity of certain types of problems (e.g., autism), the number of terms even increases. For the most part, two terms, behavior disordered and seriously emotionally disturbed, or adaptations of those terms, are most often used in the area of special education. There has been a movement in the field to emphasize the term behavior disordered, al-though the definition used in PL 94-142 still uses the term seriously emotionally disturbed. Swartz, Mosley, and Koenig-Jerz (1987) noted in a survey of each state’s use of terminology that 33 used some variant of emotionally disturbed, 15 used a variant of behavior disordered, 4 used a combination, and 1 used no label at all. Interestingly, only 6 states used the term seriously emotionally disturbed that is indicated in PL 94–142. In this chapter, terms related to both emotional and behavioral problems will be used.