Mary Kay Zabel

Factors in Burnout among Teachers of Exceptional Children

Family Consultation Project. Panel presentation at the annual meeting of Region X, American Association on Mental Deficiency, Hartford, November 1980. Allen, D., Affleck, G., McGrade, B., & McQueeney, M. Relationship-focused intervention with high risk infants: First year findings. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Montreal, September 1980. Brassell, W. R. Intervention with handicapped infants: Correlates of progress. Mental Retardation, 1977, 15, 18-22. Bricker, D., & Casuso, V. Family involvement: A critical component of early intervention. Exceptional Children, 1979, 46, 108-116. Brofenbrenner, U. Is early intervention effective? In M. Guttentag & E. Streuning (Eds.), Handbook of evaluation research (Vol. 2). Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1975. Bromwich, R. An intervention program for pre-term infants. In T. M. Field (Ed.), Infants born at risk: Behavior and development. New York: Spectrum, 1979. Bromwich, R. Working with parents and infants: An interactional approach. Baltimore: University Park Press, 1981. Cohen, S. E., & Beckwith, L. Preterm infant interaction with the caregiver in the first year of life and competence at age two. Child Development, 1979, 50, 767-776. Fein, G. Sociocultural issues: privacy, needs, and benevolence. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, San Francisco, March 1979. Field, T. M. Interaction patterns of preterm and term infants. In T. M. Field [Ed.), Infants born at risk: Behavior and development. New York: Spectrum, 1979. Fraiberg, S. Intervention in infancy: A program for blind infants. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 1970, 10, 381405. Fraiberg, S. Insights from the blind: Comparative studies of blind and sighted infants. New York: Basic Books, 1977. Lacoste, R. J. Early intervention: Can it hurt? Mental Retardation, 1978, 16, 266-268. Murdock, J. B. The separation-individuation process and developmental disabilities. Exceptional Children, 1979, 46, 176-184. Schaffer, R. Mothering. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1977. Shearer, D., & Shearer, M. The Portage Project: A model for early childhood intervention. In T. Thossem (Ed.), Intervention strategies for high risk infants and young children. Baltimore: University Park Press, 1976.

Timeout Use with Behaviorally Disordered Students.

The use of timeout procedures by teachers of behaviorally disordered students has received widespread attention in the literature. Research has been conducted, and opinion papers written suggesting guidelines and appropriate use of this intervention. The actual “state of practice”, however, has not been as thoroughly assessed. This study used a questionnaire to ask teachers of behaviorally disordered students if they used timeout procedures, and if so, to describe some of the parameters of that usage. Results are discussed and suggestions offered for improving the current practice.

Burnout Among Special Education Teachers: The Role of Experience, Training, and Age

Relationships between three personal characteristics of special education teachers-amount of teaching experience, amount of training, and age—and job-related burnout are examined in this article. Data drawn from a survey of 601 teachers of exceptional children indicate that more experienced, more highly trained, and older teachers tend to experience less emotional exhaustion, less depersonalization toward their students, and greater feelings of personal accomplishment in their jobs than their less experienced, less trained, younger colleagues.

Factors of Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, and Sense of Accomplishment Among Teachers of the Gifted

A recent teacher poll (McGuire, 1979) revealed that one out of every three teachers surveyed would not choose teaching as a career if the decision were to be made again. Four out of ten teachers do not plan to remain in teaching until retirement, and the number of teachers with twenty or more years of experience has dropped by nearly half within the past 15 years. Over 75% of teachers questioned by Miller (1979) stated that their absences from school were fre-

Ethological approaches with autistic and other abnormal populations

The relevance of ethology for the study of autistic and other abnormal populations is discussed in the context of both its theoretical bases and its methodological approaches. Examples of ethological studies involving autistic children are included in the review.

Media Review: Books: Early Childhood Education: Special Problems, Special Solutions

The University of Kansas has long been a leader in the areas of applied behavior analysis and the training of preschool handicapped children. It is no surprise, consequently, that an excellent book concerning behavioral intervention strategies for use with young handicapped children should come from several faculty members at that institution. Allen and Goetz, with the assistance of other University of Kansas faculty, have written a book that fills many gaps in the literature currently available for teachers, researchers, students, and parents who work in the area of early childhood education for the handicapped. The book begins with an enthusiastic and interesting chapter outlining the historical development of the use of behavioral principles with young handicapped children at the University of Washington. Today, the use of such principles seems to be such an established part of the teachers repertoire that it is easy to forget the initial skepticism and hostility that greeted those who first proposed these approaches. Allen colorfully describes some of these attempts and includes early case studies. Although these studies are not dramatic by todays standards, they provide an historical perspective for the reader. The book continues with an excellent overview chapter On behavioral principles and techniques, including clear definitions and exampleshelpful to both the novice and the experienced behavioral practitioner. Chapter three concerns the use of teacher implemented observation procedures and provides both theoretical and practical advice in this area. The next three chapters apply the above principles to the areas of social skills, motor skills, and language skills, again integrating theory with much sound and practical intervention direction. The chapter on motor skills in particular (written by Mildred E. Copeland) con-