A New Role for the Special School?

Mel Ainscow and Janet Bond, headteacher and deputy head respectively at Castle ESN(M) School, Walsall, Jill Gardner, educational psychologist, Walsall, and David A. Tweddle, senior educational psychologist, Birmingham, discuss area resource centres     

A New Role for the Psychologist?

Mel Ainscow, headteacher of Castle School, a day ESN(M) school in Walsall, and David Tweddle, educational psychologist in Walsall's Psychological Services, discuss the educational psychologist's role in the ESN(M) school     

Precision Teaching … and all that!

Doubts and questions about precision teaching continue to haunt teachers. Two exponents of the approach, E.C. Raybould, senior educational psychologist, Walsall Education Department, and Jonathan Solity, lecturer in psychology and special educational needs, Warwick University, offer their answers to questions about the principles and rationale in the first of two articles.     

The Placement of Pupils with Down's Syndrome: a survey of one northern LEA.

Although the 1981 Education Act encouraged LEAs to integrate pupils with special educational needs, responses varied widely. Stephanie Lorenz, an LEA educational psychologist, considers the effects of legislative change on the integration of a cohort of pupils with Down's Syndrome in one LEA.     

More Questions on Precision Teaching

In their second article on precision teaching E.C. Raybould, senior educational psychologist, Walsall Education Department, and J.E. Solity, lecturer in psychology and special educational needs, Warwick University, answer questions on the technical and procedural issues (b) and on implementation (c) which follow on from the principles and rationale (a) discussed in the March issue.     

Too Special, Too Soon?

Assumptions about the advantages of full time placement outside the home for pre-school children with special needs are challenged by Michael Davis, educational psychologist for Widnes, in the Halton district of Cheshire LEA     

Getting Our Act Together

Children First, Nottinghamshire's policy for children with special educational needs, emphasises corporate - not competitive - planning. While government policy is geared to market forces, Nottinghamshire is resisting the trend, write Peter Gray, principal educational psychologist, and Tony Dessent, senior assistant director, Nottinghamshire LEA     

Reading and Down's Syndrome

The reading skills of a sample of Down's syndrome children from a longitudinal study at the Hester Adrian Research Centre, Manchester University, are examined by Dr Lorenz, now an educational psychologist with Salford LEA, Tricia Sloper, a research fellow, and Dr Cunningham, senior lecturer, both at the Hester Adrian Centre.     

The Four P's of Policy

Charles Palmer, Rob Redfern and Kate Smith, Coventry Education Service, describe a framework for developing special needs policies in schools which takes into account the draft Code of Practice, OFSTED's framework for inspection, draft regulations on school policies and Coventry's LEA policy. Charles Palmer is a senior educational psychologist with the Coventry Educational Psychology Service. Rob Redfern is the secondary support teacher and Kate Smith is a primary support teacher with the Special Needs Support Team in Coventry.     

Fragile-X Syndrome and Education

Charles Gibb, educational psychologist, Humberside LEA, and Judith Holliday, senior teacher at Kirkella Primary School, Kirkella, near Hull, describe a condition which has, until recently, been known to only a few teachers, but which has implications for teaching and learning. They stress the value of visual learning, careful assessment of the conceptual level of material, consistency of approach and working with parents. Speech therapy can also be helpful where it permeates classroom activities.     

Promoting Inclusion in Further Education Colleges: Staff consultation groups

An increasing number of LEA Educational Psychology Services (EPSs) are expanding their range of services to the further education sector. This article reports on a project with two main aims: to conduct a feasibility study into the provision of EP services to the local further education college community and to evaluate the effectiveness of a staff consultation and training process. The report concludes with a discussion of the potential benefits for the EPS, the individual educational psychologist (EP) and the further education college community.     

Teaching with Precision

How precision teaching offers a systematic approach to teaching children with learning difficulties in ordinary and special schools and the way it is developing in Walsall is described by Ted Raybould and Jonathan Solity, educational psychologists     

Daily Evaluation in the Classroom

Children's day by day progress can be measured through precision teaching. James Muncey, senior educational psychologist, and Hugh Williams, educational psychologist, Coventry School Psychological Service, describe its value in both ordinary and special schools     

Social Integration in a Language Unit

Separate language classes are valuable in providing a secure early base for language handicapped children in ordinary schools, suggests Alan Hurford, student educational psychologist, Newcastle University, and David Hart, educational psychologist, Newcastle upon Tyne     

Units in Ordinary Schools - A Step Forward

A well planned, well resourced unit system can be a stepping stone to the full integration of children with special educational needs, write Dr Lorna Selfe, educational psychologist, Hereford and Worcester Education Department, and Peter Gray, educational psychologist previously with Hereford and Worcester and now on the staff of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.     

An Appraisal of Mixed Ability Teaching

Neville Jones, principal educational psychologist Mike Burnham, senior adviser for special education, and Clare Coles, area educational psychologist, Oxfordshire education authority, describe an experiment in mixed ability teaching with ESN(M) and ESN(S) children in Abingdon     

Data-Pac: What's in it for Teachers?

Data-Pac materials which enable teachers, in conjunction with educational psychologists, to compile individual programmes of tasks and targets for children with learning difficulties are being used in a growing number of LEAs. Peter Leadbetter, senior educational psychologist, Birmingham Education Department, and David Winteringham, senior educational psychologist, Coventry Education Department, describe how the programmes work.     

EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION IN THE RESOURCES PLANNING INFRASTRUCTURE OF LOCAL EDUCATION AUTHORITIES

This paper summarizes some of the findings in the first part of a three part IBA Fellowship study on curriculum decision‐making and educational television in secondary schools in England, Wales and Scotland. It focuses on the local education authority (LEA) context in which teachers and others make decisions about using educational television programmes to serve curricular goals. Four LEAs were selected for detailed study and interviews were conducted with officials and teachers to investigate the relationship between LEA decisions and decision‐makers and school decisions and decision‐makers.     

Telling Stories to Encourage Language

Is regular story telling to individual children a more effective way of improving their language development than an objectives-based approach with the teaching of specific skills, as the authors suggest? This is one of the questions raised in this small study by Jeremy Swinson, senior educational psychologist, Liverpool, and Chris Ellis, senior educational psychologist, West Sussex.     

Microcomputers in Special Schools

Bob Hart senior inspector for schools, Walsall, and Ian Staples, teacher at Jane Lane ESN(M) School, Walsall, describe microcomputers' value as a link between research and classroom teaching styles and some programs developed so far