Inservice Training in Special Education for Classroom Teachers - Kindergarten through Grade 3.

Overview & Synopsis

A core group of pre-kindergarten through fourth-grade teachers and staff at a private day school were given in-service training to meet the special education needs of students. Training aimed to prepare personnel to identify students with mild handicaps, refer more severely handicapped students for diagnosis, and teach students with special education needs. Staff receiving training were to serve other school personnel as resources. The in-service program aimed to increase participants' knowledge about special education, improve faculty and staff attitudes toward special education in the regular classroom, and lead participants in the development of a program manual for special education. Instruction was provided in 12 training sessions, each 45-minutes in duration, held twice weekly for 6 weeks. It focused on screening procedures and assessment techniques, mental retardation, learning disabilities, emotional disturbance, speech and language disorders, hearing impairment, visual impairment, giftedness, mainstreaming, and a review of current research in special education. In addition, participants were trained to conduct peer training and collegial supervision. Evaluation data indicated that practicum objectives were attained. Appended are instruments used to gather data, a 100-item test of knowledge about special education, outlines of each training session, a summary statement of myths and facts about each exceptional condition, and a general outline of the special education procedures manual. (RH)