Effect of auditory training on reading skills of retarded readers

64 third-graders from socially disadvantaged backgrounds were assigned to 1 of 3 treatment groups or to a control group. Treatment groups received reading instruction or auditory training or both. Batteries of auditory and reading tests were given before and after treatment. There was no evidence that any of the four groups showed superior posttest performance. The negative results are discussed in terms of timing of intervention programs. The findings suggest that there may be complex interrelationships of teacher and pupil variables with learning to read.

Intervention in maturity

42 mature individuals, with a median age of 38 yr., who had lost their teaching positions in Southern schools because of desegregation procedures, were subjected, as members of an NDEA Institute, to special training to enable them to fulfill New York City Board of Education qualifications for teachers. Massive educational handicaps, revealed in habitual modes of oral and written expression, were overcome to a substantial degree in 3 mo. of intensive effort, with 71% of the group attaining “acceptable” levels for service in the school system.

Remediation of the conduct problem child in the special class setting

This paper describes principles and assumptions which underlie an experimental special class for conduct problem children which has been developed cooperatively by an interdisciplinary university research center and a public school. A conceptualization of the nature of children's behavior disorders is offered, and some principles of behavior modification and remediation of academic deficiencies are discussed. Some particular characteristics of the conduct problem child relevant to the education process are outlined. Also considered are factors relevant to remediational efforts within the public school setting, including the problem of group versus individual techniques, the role of mental health professionals, the place of other than classroom treatment, the goals of the special class, and the utilization in the regular class of techniques developed in the special class.

The language handicapped child and education

This article presents the problems involved in definitive differential diagnosis of children with delayed language. It suggests the need to describe language, auditory, mental, and emotional functioning as opposed to depending upon specific diagnostic labels which may rely upon clinical bias. The classroom teacher is viewed as an individual competent to devise teaching methods applicable to the peculiar requirements of widely differing children and is encouraged to trust herself in the face of “experts.”