The term instructional technology’ refers to two relatively distinct classes of phenomena which have been described by Saettler (1968) as “the physical science concept” — the application of physical science and engineering technology (movie projectors, television, teaching machines, computers, etc.) to the presentation of instructional materials, and “the behavioural science concept” — the application of behavioural science (especially psychology and sociology) to problems of learning and instruction. While both of these classes of phenomena clearly have considerable potential for improving the content and conduct of education — including special education, it is the writer’s belief that the extent to which “the physical science concept” can be effectively utilised in education/special education will be limited — indeed constrained by the current spate of knowledge which has been derived from “the behavioural science concept”. The present paper reflects this belief and is thus primarily concerned with “the behavioural science concept” — in particular with the application of psychology and sociology to problems of learning and instruction in special education.

An initial clarification of the term “special education” also seems necessary. Following Kirk and Gallagher (1979), the term “special education” in the present paper will refer to those aspects of education required for handicapped or gifted children which are “unique and/or in addition to the instructional programme for all children [p. 13]” ‘Handicapped or gifted children’ being those who “deviate from the average or normal child (1) in mental characteristics, (2) in sensory abilities, (3) in neuro-motor or physical characteristics, (4) in social behaviour, (5) in communication abilities, or (6) in multiple handicap … to such an extent that modifications of school practices, or special educational services are required for the children to develop to maximum capacity” (Kirk & Gallagher, 1979 [p. 3].)

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.

Children who are classified as either emotionally disturbed or behavior disordered appear to stress school systems perhaps more intensely than any other handicapping condition. The behavioral characteristics of this population of students are extremely aversive to peers and adult social agents (teachers, parents) who must interact with them on a daily basis. Frequently, these children disrupt the instructional process for themselves and others, defy the teacher, and engage in forms of social behavior that are considered either inappropriate to the school setting (tantrumming, disturbing others, fighting) or are severe violations of social norms (stealing, self abuse).

Why should we use computers in our classroms in special education? Will they benefit our children? How can we use them to advantage? This paper presents reasons for using computers as effective teaching tools with children who are having difficulty in learning.

The treatment of children’s enuresis has witnessed a number of theoretical and practical variations. While the incidence of enuresis is substantial, there is little agreement in the wider literature regarding the most effective treatment. The present paper reports on a detailed meta-analytic review of the literature, drawing some limited conclusions as to the comparative effectiveness of five categories of treatment, with particular reference to long term follow-up data. While the use of pad and bell is shown as equally effective as retention training at the end of the treatment, retention training emerges as superior over 6 to 12 months of follow-up. Basic instructions are given for the use of this method.

Dempsey (this issue) has provided a commentary on our study (Carter, Stephenson, & Strnadová, 2011) examining the reported rates of use of instructional practices by Australian special educators. Examining this commentary, it is evident that on many issues we are on the same page and agree on many of the fundamental conclusions to be drawn from the study. Nevertheless, Dempsey did express concern regarding several aspects of the reporting of the study, which were suggested to have the ‘potential to mislead’ readers. In essence, these criticisms revolve around four substantive points and these will each be addressed.

Effective collaboration between key stakeholders increases the educational opportunities and outcomes of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although the value of collaboration between the central members of a student’s network has been widely cited, how collaboration occurs between different stakeholder groups in the education of Australian primary and secondary students with ASD is not widely known. The aim of this review was to identify the factors that influence collaborative practices between three primary stakeholder groups supporting the education of Australian students with ASD: family, school, and community. Through this lens, we analysed the intent of the collaborative practices as well as the specific details of the collaborative practices identified across the research literature published since the implementation of the Disability Standards for Education 2005 (Commonwealth of Australia, 2006). Results from this review indicate existing motivations and processes of collaboration, as well as directions for future research and practice.

The ability to generate narratives is important for literacy development. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been found to generate less complex narratives than typically developing peers. This pilot AB study was designed to investigate the efficacy of a brief intervention procedure to develop the macrostructure of original fictional narratives based on a realistic scenario in one child, aged 9 years 8 months, with autism spectrum disorder and language disorder. The intervention targeted the characters, setting, problem, feelings, and fix of fictional narrative. Intervention involved the use of macrostructure icons, pictures to support the generation of narratives, clinician modelling, and the participant telling the entire narrative each session. The participant received 12 training sessions of 4–6 minutes each and the intervention was effective. Areas for future research include implementation of a stronger research design and investigation of generalisation to fantasy-based fictional narratives.

Corrective feedback has long been regarded as an essential element in the teaching-learning process. There is, however, little agreement among educators as to what constitutes appropriate feedback. In reading instruction, views on error correction differ in relation to the perspective on reading adopted.

In this study, the corrective feedback of whole language teachers was examined. The responses of teachers to a set of oral reading miscues were compared to recommended practices for whole language practitioners and to ideal feedback behaviour based on a review of the literature on effective teaching. This information was then used as a basis for examining both the strengths and limitations of whole language instruction for children who experience difficulty in learning to read.

This paper reviews the findings from a controlled experimental study of the effectiveness of the Reading Recovery Program undertaken in ten primary schools in Sydney, during the second year of its implementation. Children, selected by their teachers as low progress readers after one year at school, were randomly allocated to either Reading Recovery or to a control condition in which they received only the resource support typically provided to at-risk children. Low progress children from five schools of similar socio-economic level, but without a Reading Recovery Program, also took part in the study. All children were pre-tested on a number of norm and criterion referenced reading related literacy measures, post-tested on the same measures fifteen weeks after the Program commenced, and once again after a further fifteen weeks to assess maintenance effects. Results indicated that Reading Recovery students clearly outperformed students in the control group condition on most measures but, at this early stage of Reading Recovery implementation, there appeared to be no spill-over effects to other low progress students and their teachers in Reading Recovery schools. Furthermore, the practice of matching children to appropriate book level in the regular classroom, which is necessary to ensure maintenance of the Reading Recovery intervention, was not being adopted in most schools. Finally, because of the extremely low book level scores found among all Year 1 children in the ten Reading Recovery schools at the commencement of the study, serious implications arise about the selection of students for Reading Recovery in metropolitan New South Wales, their most appropriate point of entry into the Program, and the maintenance of their skills at discontinuation when they return to regular classes where average book levels continue to be low.

The social acceptance (by nonhandicapped children) of four former pupils of a special school for physically handicapped children was examined. The pupils had previously (18 months prior to the study) been transferred to regular primary and intermediate schools as part of an integration (mainstreaming) programme. The physically handicapped children and their nonhandicapped classmates showed very similar patterns of social interaction during unsupervised playground activities, and similar levels of social acceptance (sociometric data and teachers’ ratings). Case study data indicated that all physically handicapped children had apparently made a successful adaptation to the physical, academic, and social demands of the regular school, but considerable variation was evident both in the social difficulties encountered by the children during the integration period and in their current (and future) special educational needs.

In a 1999 paper Gersten and Chard proposed that number sense might be to mathematics what phonemic awareness is to reading. They explained the role of phonemic awareness in reading acquisition and its influence on reading research and argued that an understanding of the concept of number sense could be equally influential in the field of mathematics, in particular for the population of students at risk of developing mathematical disabilities (MD). The present paper examines the analogy in the light of existing literature in the area of number sense and concludes that while it may have some merit from a research point of view there are some inherent risks in the promotion of the analogy prior to the research community providing a definition of number sense and sufficient evidence that it is a prerequisite for mathematics success.

This paper is the second of two which report the results of a three stage study of educational services to students with mild intellectual disability in two NSW Department of School Education regions. The three phases of the study involved a teacher questionnaire, a teacher interview and classroom observations. This paper reports results in the areas of curriculum and programming, teaching strategies and materials, and classroom management techniques within the special class setting. The study found that 85% of teachers would like a specific curriculum for students with mild intellectual disability and a similar percentage saw a need for greater inservicing and feedback on their programming. While teachers reported the use of a variety of teaching techniques including small group instruction, classroom observations showed that individual or whole class instruction was commonly used with no evidence of data-based instruction, cognitive, metacognitive or problem solving strategies. Some teachers found that classroom management took a considerable amount of their time while others, including those observed, had strong classroom control. Recommendations based on the findings in each of the three areas are also reported and discussed.

Way to Play is an approach that supports adults to promote the engagement of young children with autism spectrum disorder through play. The Ministry of Education in New Zealand has collaborated with Autism New Zealand to ensure the sustainable delivery of Way to Play within Auckland’s early learning services by training early intervention staff to both use Way to Play and to coach and support other adults in its use. Key strategies that form the foundation of Way to Play are described, and an outline of the evidence base for these strategies is provided. Preliminary data demonstrate the effectiveness of the training approach and the perceived impact for young children with autism and their parents/carers and teachers. Case examples illustrate how Way to Play is used across home and educational settings to successfully support the engagement and inclusion of young children with autism. Suggestions are made for a comprehensive investigation of program effectiveness.

Extant research addressing implicit factors related to intervention decisions made by parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is limited and findings have been inconsistent. In the present study, 74 parents of preschoolers with ASD were surveyed regarding intervention use. The possible relationships between implicit parent factors (education level, age, causal beliefs about ASD, complementary and alternative medicine [CAM] use, and family income) and child factors (time since diagnosis, and perceived severity of ASD), and the number and type of interventions used were examined. Consistent with previous research, only a small number of significant relationships were found, including that family income, parent use of CAM, mother’s education, parent belief in an unknown aetiology of ASD, and time since child’s diagnosis were all related to the number of interventions used. Some specific findings of previous research were not replicated in the present study (e.g., neither beliefs in environmental aetiology of ASD nor parent education levels were related to the use of specific CAM interventions), indicating that factors affecting decision-making may not be consistent across samples. Nevertheless, future research including an expanded range of possible implicit factors with more diverse samples may provide a more accurate predictive model of parent decision-making.

Film and video play an important part in shaping our attitudes and increasing our understanding of children with special needs. Media of quality are now widely available in Australia, and the article discusses how this may be obtained by teachers. In this first of a series of occasional articles, media which introduces the field of special education are briefly reviewed in an annotated bibliography.