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The purpose of this study was to determine which IEPs are of greater quality for learning-disabled students: teacher-written IEPs (those developed without the aid of microcomputers or manuals of goals and objectives); manual-assisted IEPs (those developed with the aid of manuals of goals and objectives); or microcomputer-assisted IEPs (those developed with the aid of both manuals of goals and objectives and microcomputers). This study investigated the question: What effect does the use of microcomputers and manuals of goals and objectives have upon the quality of IEPs developed for learning-disabled students?;The sample consisted of 120 IEPs of students categorized as learning-disabled by the North Central Regional Education Sevice Agency (RESA 7) of West Virginia. Forty of the IEPs were teacher-written, forty of the IEPs were manual-assisted, and forty of the IEPs were microcomputer-assisted. Three trained raters examined and evaluated, individually, all of the IEPs involved in the study with regard to legal requirements, relevance, and clarity using the Checklist For Documenting Appropriateness of the IEP.;A statistical analysis of the data collected regarding each hypothesis revealed the following findings: (1) A t test indicated that the microcomputer-assisted IEPs in this study received a significantly higher mean total score (p < .01) on the Checklist For Documenting Appropriateness of the IEP than did the teacher-written IEPs in this study. as a result, the null hypothesis (that there was no difference in quality between microcomputer-assisted IEPs and teacher-written IEPs as evaluated using the Checklist For Documenting Appropriateness of the IEP) was rejected. (2) A t test indicated that the manual-assisted IEPs in this study received a significantly higher mean total score (p < .01) on the Checklist For Documenting Appropriateness of the IEP than did the teacher-written IEPs in this study. as a result, the null hypothesis (that there was no difference in quality between manual-assisted IEPs and teacher-written IEPs as evaluated using the Checklist For Documenting Appropriateness of the IEP) was rejected. (3) A t test indicated that the microcomputer-assisted IEPs in this study received a significantly higher mean total score (p < .01) on the Checklist For Documenting Appropriateness of the IEP than did the manual-assisted IEPs. as a result, the null hypothesis (that there was no significant difference in quality between manual-assisted IEPs and microcomputer-assisted IEPs as evaluated using the Checklist For Documenting Appropriateness of the IEP) was rejected.

In response to the decline in student achievement test scores during the past decade and the perceived erosion of confidence in the quality of public education, a number of states have initiated legislative or administrative action to develop and implement a variety of statewide minimum competency testing (MCT) programs. as of January 1, 1980, thirty-six states, including the Commonwealth of Virginia, had mandated some form of MCT programs for elementary and secondary school students.;In Virginia and in at least five other states a major purpose of MCT programs is to ensure, through a uniform statewide test, that students who are awarded a standard high school diploma have achieved a minimum level of proficiency in specified educational skills.;Handicapped and non-handicapped students of the graduating class of 1981 were the first to be required to meet the Virginia Graduation Competency Test (GCT) requirement as a criterion of eligibility for the award of a standard high school diploma.;Establishment of a direct and clearly defined working relationship between MCT programs and the IEP has been advocated as an ethical and reasonable means of ensuring that handicapped students will be provided fair and meaningful opportunities to benefit from instruction in the skills assessed by state and local MCT programs. This study was designed to examine the relationship between the Virginia Graduation Competency Test (GCT) assessment of student proficiency in specific educational skills and the educational skills content of the annual goals and short-term instructional objectives of the individualized education programs (IEPs) of handicapped high school students.;A total of 286 IEPs (N - 1981 = 124; N - 1982 = 162) representing 162 LD students and 30 ED students who took the March 1981 GCT were obtained for examination from 82 of 93 (88%) local Virginia school divisions which administered the March 1981 GCT to LD and ED high school students. IEP statements of students present level(s) of performance, annual goals and short-term objectives were examined for specific GCT skills content and performance related data.;The findings of this investigation suggest that the extent to which local school personnel are incorporating specific GCT skills into the educational programs provided for handicapped students through the IEP may be less than adequate to document systematic planning for meeting the GCT skills instructional needs of Virginia's handicapped students.

The purpose of this study was to identify and compare the effects of educational treatment programs for emotionally disturbed students. In addition, the study explored whether programmatic or demographic variables interacted with the treatment programs to affect the outcome measures.;Two hundred twenty studies were integrated using the meta-analysis technique. The analysis involved more than 2,300 research subjects and yielded 235 measures of effect size, which were calculated on outcome areas of general achievement, mathematics achievement, reading achievement, and social skills. Variables investigated were age, diagnosis, SES, IQ, length of program, program setting, and program facilitator.;It was hypothesized that (1) there are significant differences in the overall effects of educational treatment programs for emotionally disturbed students, (2) there are differences in the effects of these treatment programs upon the specific outcome measures of mathematics achievement, reading achievement, general achievement, and social skills, (3) program elements and student demographics interact with the treatment programs to significantly affect the outcomes.;Data analysis involved: (a) descriptive statistics for the data base, (b) analysis of variance to test the effectiveness of the treatment programs, and (c) regression analysis where the effect sizes were regressed onto the variables.;No statistically significant differences in the total effect sizes of the eleven treatment programs were found. There were statistically significant differences among the treatment programs upon specific outcome measures. Programmatic and demographic variables were found to significantly affect outcome areas when interacting with structured-behavioral treatment.;It was concluded that no one treatment program was superior to another in overall effects. However, a short term structured behavioral treatment program in the lower elementary grades would yield the greatest gains in both academic and social skills achievement. Further study is needed to evaluate the variable relationships.

The affective meanings, defined by a semantic differential, that special educators of the mentally retarded, learning disabled and emotionally disturbed in Virginia public schools assign to their concepts of certain exceptional students, regular students, special educators, and themselves personally were explored. In addition, relationships between these affective meanings and the age, race, sex, endorsements, and experience of teachers were examined.;Mailed survey data were returned by 152 special educators from a 10% stratified random sample of Virginia public school systems. Data were analyzed using a multivariate analysis and a series of multiple regressions, and the following conclusions were drawn: (1) Virginia special educators perceived each concept studied as distinctive, with affective meanings in the moderate positive range. The exceptions were the concepts "learning disabled student" and "regular class student" which did not differ in their affective meanings. (2) The concept "emotionally disturbed student" was significantly higher on potency and significantly lower on evaluation than all other concepts. (3) The concept "educable mentally retarded student" was significantly lower on activity and potency than other concepts. (4) The concepts "special educator" and "me (myself)" were significantly higher on evaluation and activity than other concepts, but comparatively low on potency. (5) Special educators perceived exceptional students as significantly lower on activity than the non-handicapped. (6) The predictor variables (1) age, (2) race, (3) type of service delivery, (4) special education endorsement, and (5) size of employing school system were significantly correlated with several of the affective meanings studied, while level of education, length of teaching experience, sex and level of service delivery were not found to be important predictors.

The purpose of this study was to determine if participation in a cognitive training program administered by teachers within their classrooms would significantly improve the academic achievement, attentional responding styles and auditory and visual attention and memory skills of elementary self-contained learning disabled students.;Subjects were thirty-six elementary age self-contained learning disabled students 8-0 to 11-11 years of age and with total I.Q. scores on the Wechsler intelligence Scale for Children-Revised of 80 or greater from the Virginia Beach City Public Schools in Virginia Beach, Virginia.;Three instruments were used to measure the dependent variables in this study: the reading, mathematics, and written language clusters of the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery; the auditory and visual attention and memory subtests of the Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude; and the Matching Familiar Figures Test to measure impulsive vs. reflective responding styles.;The research design was the Pretest-Posttest Control Groups Design. The data was analyzed using a 2 x 2 analysis of variance with the hypotheses being tested at the .05 level of confidence.;The findings indicated that participation in a program of cognitive training procedures administered by self-contained learning disabilities teachers in their classrooms did significantly improve the reading and math achievement test scores, the auditory memory and attention test scores and the reflective attending style test scores of the students involved in the training. No significant improvement was noted in the students written language test scores on the Woodcock or in the visual attention and memory test scores on the Detroit.;Future research is suggested with larger samples of both self-contained and resource learning disabled students.

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of parental intervention on the self-esteem, degree of coping, and stress levels of parents of developmentally delayed or handicapped infants involved in an infant intervention program.;The research design for this study was a posttest-only control group design. The samples consisted of 48 parents who had infants enrolled in an infant intervention program. Sixteen subjects were assigned to each of the following treatment groups: Support, Counseling, and Control. The Support groups were structured as self-help groups. The Counseling groups were primarily affective, but also included a didactic component based on the Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP) model. Three self-report instruments: The Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory, The Parenting Stress Index, and the Coping with Loss Scale were used to assess changes in the dependent variables (self-esteem, stress, and coping.).;The results of the research revealed that there were significant differences noted between the self-esteem scores of the support group parents and the counseling group parents, with self-esteem scores higher in the support group. Similarly, a significant difference was found between the stress indexes of support group parents and counseling group parents with the support group parents experiencing less stress. No significant difference was noted between any of the groups in respect to the degree of coping, nor were any significant differences noted between treatment groups and the control group on any of the variables. The subscales on the Coping with Loss Scale proved to significantly discriminate between each other.;In conclusion, support groups may be more effective than counseling groups for this population due to the lack of cohesiveness in groups as a result of absenteeism. Measures to eliminate absenteeism were offered. Replication of this study with a larger sample was recommended along with some possible design changes. Further research on the Coping with Loss Scale was suggested.