Six sections of a general education class for prospective teacher trainees were randomly assigned to one of two groups (N = 162). Each group was exposed to an identical audiotaped/slide presentation of a special education program involving a young woman with Down's Syndrome. However, the slides accompanying one group's taped presentation consisted of functional, integrated, and age appropriate curriculum activities and the slides accompanying the other group's presentation included non-functional, segregated, and age inappropriate activities. Prior to viewing the slide/tape presentation, all persons completed the Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons Questionnaire (ATDP) (Yuker, Block & Younng, 1966). After viewing the slides, the participants completed a teacher-made questionnaire regarding their attitudes and expectations toward a young woman with Down's Syndrome. The multivariate analysis of variance resulted in no statistically significant differences between the two groups on the ATDP, but did result in statistically significant differences on the eight non-demographic items of the teacher-made questionnaire. Subsequent comparisons of individual questionnaire items revealed significant differences on those items which estimated IQ, future earning capacity, label of retardation, “best” residential environment, appropriate classroom placement, and most likely employment setting. These differences were in the direction of predicting higher levels of competence for the student when depicted as being involved in functional, integrated, and age appropriate activities.

Educator accountability has been a major theme in special education for the past decade. While it is primarily important that an educator evaluate and substantiate the progress of a student over a school year, it is also important that progress be attributable to specific educational procedures. The ability of the educator to make valid statement regarding the efficacy of educational procedures in developing specific skills is central to a diagnostic-prescriptive orientation. The present paper presents a rationale for use of the changing-criterion design in special education. This single-subject research strategy is designed to establish valid causal statements regarding the association between educational treatments and behavior change. A changing-criterion design by a special education teacher in the public schools is presented in the paper; it is discussed with particular reference to its applications in special education settings.

A national cross-section of 270 educators of minority-group handicapped children and adolescents in 13 states was interviewed regarding their present and past media/materials usage with minority-group handicapped learners, the availability of materials, and the need for new materials. The perceptions of educators of Spanish-speaking students regarding the appropriateness of existing media/materials differed from those of teachers of either blacks or native Americans. The majority of educators of Spanish-speaking handicapped students felt that the existing media/materials were not compatible with the cultural background of their students and that the products on the market slighted this population. Educators indicated that they used many different media and materials ranging from print to multimedia packages. Games were used by 82% of the educators, and workbook consumable materials were used by over 70% of the educators. Teachers' comments reflected a growing concern for the rising, often excessive cost of commercial products.

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