Examines the concept of mental retardation with regard to such societal factors as immigration policy, urban poverty, and the growth of public education, criticizes traditional methods of diagnosis and treatment as culturally biased and inadequate, and suggests alternative approaches within familial and community context.

First published in 1989, this book is about integrating or mainstreaming policies, looking specifically at how to improve circumstances for schoolchildren with disabilities or handicaps, and their teachers. The author draws on her experiences, both within and outside the academic institution, to conceptualise and theorise policy, so as to place this policy in a political framework and locate it in a wider model of social life. This model is then used to disentangle the nature and effects of policy practices surrounding integration and mainstreaming, looking at practice in various parts of Europe, the US and Australia, at that time. Although written at the end of the 1980s, this book discusses topics that are still relevant today.

Recognized as the definitive reference in the field, this book addresses a broad range of biologically based disorders that affect children's learning and development. Leading authorities review the genetics of each disorder; its course and outcome; associated developmental, cognitive, and psychosocial challenges; and what clinicians and educators need to know about effective approaches to assessment and intervention. Coverage encompasses numerous lower-incidence neurodevelopmental disabilities as well as more frequently diagnosed learning and behavior problems with a genetic component.

The Handbook of Educational Policy provides a comprehensive overview of policy questions in education reform at local, state, and national levels. The book raises controversial questions, such as who really benefits from educational reform, and investigates issues of accountability, assessment, educational fads, technology in education, and other matters of educational policy. The book explores not only what education is, but what it can be and should be, providing a scholarly analysis of policy decisions as well as practical recommendations for parents, teachers, and policy-makers.Key Features* Provides informed discussion based on scholarly research* Contains practical recommendations for parents, educators, and policy-makers* Includes representation from local, state, and national levels* Considers comparisons of United States practices to reforms abroad* Addresses current issues and implications for the futures

Many Americans view today's problems in education as an unprecedented crisis brought on by contemporary social ills. In Learning from the Past a group of distinguished educational historians and scholars of public policy reminds us that many of our current difficulties – as well as recent reform efforts – have important historical antecedents. What can we learn, they ask, from nineteenth century efforts to promote early childhood education, or debates in the 1920s about universal secondary education, or the curriculum reforms of the 1950s? Reflecting a variety of intellectual and disciplinary orientations, the contributors to this volume examine major changes in educational development and reform and consider how such changes have been implemented in the past. They address questions of governance, equity and multiculturalism, curriculum standards, school choice, and a variety of other issues. Policy makers and other school reformers, they conclude, would do well to investigate the past in order to appreciate the implications of the present reform initiatives.

This volume deals with the great changes which have taken place in the practice of the history of education in present years. It brings together a number of important articles on the subject which are not easily available to the ordinary reader.

This report focuses on issues relating to the development of individualized education programs for and placement of students who are classified as having mental retardation, learning disabilities, behavioral disabilities, or serious emotional disturbances. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights examined present-day barriers and inequities that deny students with these types of disabilities an equal opportunity to participate in educational programs. The report analyzes and evaluates the Office for Civil Right's (OCR) implementation, compliance, and enforcement efforts for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. It discusses other Federal disability laws, such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, to the extent that they relate to Section 504.