Development of a screening instrument (the SRT) for teacher referral of students with special needs to therapy services is reported in this paper. Stage 1 was reported in Llewellyn & Maher (1993). In Stages 2 and 3, the instrument was trialed and subsequently refined with over 200 teachers and 60 therapists in NSW Schools for Specific Purposes and Support Classes. Multiple discriminant analysis was used to determine those items relevant to referral to therapy. The final version of the instrument contains 19 items. The instrument is suitable for determining individual student need for referral to occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech pathology for students with intellectual and/ or physical disability. The instrument can also be used for determining the extent and distribution of student need for therapy at classroom, school, regional or State levels.

The present study surveyed teachers and students without disabilities regarding the inclusion of students with disabilities at an Australian primary school. The school provided special education to 35 students with special needs and some of their education was provided in regular classrooms alongside peers without disabilities. Fifteen regular classroom teachers and 109 classroom peers without special needs completed questionnaires. Both groups provided a range of supportive comments about regular classroom placements for student with special needs, but also expressed concerns about the implementation of special education in regular classrooms. Specific concerns included the extra time and added stress of educating children with special needs in the regular classroom setting, potential disruption and disadvantage to other students and the lack of support and resources. Unless these concerns are addressed, placement of students with special needs in regular classrooms may generate stress, concern, and even possibly resentment among some teachers and students without disabilities.

One of the first steps toward meeting the educational needs of the increasing number of students who display high risk behaviours is to identify who these students are and how many exist in public school classrooms. The purpose of the present study was twofold in nature: (a) to use teacher ratings to determine the proportion of students who were judged to be high risk for academic and social behaviour failure; and (b) to determine the efficiency and accuracy with which a screening instrument, the High Risk Screening Survey, could determine the proportion of students judged to be high risk. This paper provides a preliminary examination of the usefulness and efficiency of teacher reports and the High Risk Screening Survey. Three hundred and nine teachers, representing 29 schools in a large metropolitan area in Western Australia, rated 8,722 students in preschool and first through seventh grades. Preliminary field validation results indicated that the High Risk Screening Survey appeared to be an efficient, useful, and descriptive tool for assessing the general risk status of students in preschool and grades one through seven. In addition, across seven variables, most students were seen by their teachers as about or above average; in reading, math, and language arts, approximately 7% of all students were judged by their teachers as significantly behind their peers; and in self-management and social interactions with peers and adults, approximately 2% of students were judged by their teachers as significantly behind their peers. Additional findings, limitations, and recommendations are discussed.

This article reviews the findings of a comprehensive national study of the social effects of haemophilia in New Zealand, with reference to the educational implications for children with haemophilia. However, these implications go well beyond New Zealand and many apply to children with other medical conditions and disabilities. Although children with haemophilia do make some special demands on schools, the main argument of the report is that schools which provide socially and physically safe environments for their students’ will also meet many of the needs of children with haemophilia.

Literature regarding the transition of students from primary to secondary school indicates that all students face a number of problems centring around the school environment, academic adjustment (teachers and curriculum) and social environment. These problems are likely to be exacerbated for students with disabilities or special needs. There is limited research into the transition of the general student population from primary to secondary school and virtually none regarding the transition of students with disabilities or special needs. This study concentrated on the transition from primary to secondary school of students with disabilities or special needs in Victorian mainstream Catholic schools. One hundred and ten teachers from 109 schools completed questionnaires. Findings suggested a considerable level of concern for the transition of this particular group of students and support for a number of specific activities and procedures to facilitate smooth transition and communication between school levels. Support was found to be greater in theory than practice.

A curriculum-based one minute oral reading probe was administered to 242 randomly selected, regular Grade 4 students, from 22 Government schools in one large NSW Department of School Education metropolitan school district, to determine reading competence. The results of this easily administered test showed that 22% of students failed to reach 70 CWPM (instructional level) 23% scored 70–100 CWPM, 20% scored 100–119 CWPM and 35% exceeded mastery level, with a score of 120 CWPM or more. It was concluded that the high number, 65%, failing to reach mastery level should be of major concern to district educators and warrants a review of classroom practice in reading instruction with implications for district-wide resource allocation.

Children with behaviour disorders have long been regarded as the most difficult group of children with special needs to integrate into the regular classroom. Despite the difficulty Government policy continues to advocate integration for all children with special needs. The present study examines the placement of children with behaviour disorders in regular schools one and two years after an initial study on their integration was undertaken. The results indicate that many of these children are no longer at the surveyed school. The results would suggest that the regular classroom/school may not be the optimal learning environment for all children with behaviour disorders.

A preliminary study was carried out to evaluate the use of a whole class early literacy program with disadvantaged and at risk children. This program, Schoolwide Early Language and Literacy (SWELL) is based on an interactive-compensatory theory of literacy acquisition. Results indicated that by the end of kindergarten, children in SWELL schools outperformed their counterparts in control schools on tests measuring reading connected text but not on other early literacy measures. In addition, marginal children in the mainstream, including those targeted as having mild intellectual disability, were able to master partial phonetic cue reading, in contrast to marginal students in control schools who did not attain this skill. Follow-up studies indicated that by the end of Year 1, all children in SWELL schools outperformed their counterparts in control schools on four early literacy tests, but the effect of the fifth, reading connected text, was only evident in large disadvantaged schools. Marginal students who had received individualised Reading Recovery outperformed marginal students in SWELL schools and control schools who had received small group intervention on reading connected text and on reading pseudowords, but not on tests of segmentation, spelling and writing. No children classified as developmentally delayed received individualised Reading Recovery, but were included in both SWELL small class and control schools small group intervention. Further follow-up mid-way through Year 2, on marginal children only, no longer indicated any differences among the individualised Reading Recovery, SWELL small class or control schools small group. The implications of the use of a structured program such as SWELL, as a whole-class program and the most effective individualised program for inclusion of at risk students are discussed.