An alternating treatments design was used to compare the effectiveness of activity-based intervention and didactic instruction to teach sight word reading to four young children with developmental delays attending an inclusive child care centre. Following the collection of baseline measures, the two interventions, counterbalanced for word lists and order of intervention, were implemented twice a week for six weeks. Acquisition of the sight words was assessed by the interventionist in pre-teaching probes and also by a special education teacher known to the children but independent of the research team. Maintenance data were collected three weeks after the intervention was completed. The results indicated that there were no differences between the two instructional approaches in relation to acquisition and maintenance of sight word reading for three of the four children. Features of each intervention and the implications of the findings are discussed.

In Queensland, inclusive education reform is on the political agenda, following the report of the Ministerial Taskforce on Inclusive Education (students with disabilities) in 2004. The Government’s responses to the initiatives outlined in the taskforce report emphasise a commitment to social justice and equity so that all students can be included in ways that enable them to achieve their potential. This commitment will be pursued by building an environment of consultation and collaboration with all stakeholders to improve the educational outcomes of students with disabilities, by reforming enrolment processes, and by enhancing professional development of current and future teaching staff. What does this vision for inclusive education reform mean for the position of the teacher aides who support students with disabilities (previously integration teacher aides)? Are they recognised as stakeholders within the reform process? How will they be consulted about reform?

This study examined teacher perceptions of educational supports for students with disabilities and significant behavioural problems. Specifically, the study sought to (a) identify the types of behavioural problems displayed by students identified as exhibiting significantly challenging behaviour; (b) ascertain the types of supports and resources available to teachers to support students with challenging behaviours; and (c) elicit recommendations from teachers for how best to provide support for students with disabilities and significant behavioural challenges. Findings from the study indicated that the teachers were routinely being exposed to students who exhibited relatively high levels of significantly challenging behaviour. Teachers reported that they did not feel sufficiently prepared or supported to work successfully with such students and expressed the need for comprehensive, regular, and ongoing professional development activities that were aligned with their needs and those of their students. Despite the challenges encountered, the teachers expressed a strong commitment to assisting students with significant behavioural problems to achieve positive outcomes.

This study examined the perceptions of teacher aides regarding their roles and responsibilities in supporting senior students with special needs in mainstream secondary school settings. Fourteen teacher aides were interviewed using a semi‐structured interview guide to determine their views regarding their roles and responsibilities, the challenges they faced, their relationships with parents, teachers and students, and their professional development needs. Findings from the study indicated that the participating teacher aides performed a variety of roles and that they often had a considerable degree of autonomy and responsibility in providing academic, social, and behavioural support to the students they served. Teacher aides reported that they were generally satisfied with their jobs and proud of their contributions and accomplishments. However their relationships with teaching staff were often challenging. Teacher aides also indicated that their roles and responsibilities were not clearly delineated, their professional status was not formally recognised, opportunities for advancement and professional development were limited, and that they received little systematic feedback and evaluation of their performance.

A review is provided of recent research literature on the topic of troublesome classroom behaviour, published over the past decade or so with particular reference to research carried out in Australian schools. Nine Australian studies are reviewed, as well as a further seven from the USA, Hong Kong, Jordan, Greece and Malta. Seven of the studies deal with the early years and primary level of schooling, with six studies at the secondary level, and three that span primary and secondary levels of schooling. The following main themes are elucidated: the prevalence of behaviourally troublesome students; time spent managing troublesome behaviour; gender differences; and types of classroom (mis)behaviours, their severity and their frequency. Recent research confirms earlier findings that classroom misbehaviour is of widespread concern to teachers but that the main causes of disruption, while being frequent, are often relatively trivial in nature (‘talking out of turn’ behaviours in particular). While prevalence rates for troublesome students across classes are variable, boys are consistently identified as being more troublesome than girls.

In this article, the authors review the way in which the Victorian government has responded to the inclusion of students with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools, and consider what further efforts could be made to improve inclusive educational practices. Key measures introduced by the state education authority in relation to the inclusion of students with SEN in mainstream schools include a new funding mechanism, a whole-school approach to addressing students’ reading difficulties, and arrangements to exempt students with SEN from state and national testing. System authorities have been faced with a surge in the number of students identified as having SEN (resulting in funding blowouts and subsequent changes to eligibility criteria). Although intended to support students with SEN in mainstream settings, the approaches adopted may be falling far short of the needs of these students.

This article reports on inclusive education in Bangladesh for children with special needs. Bangladesh is not behind other developed countries in enacting laws and declarations in favour of inclusive education, but a lack of resources is the main barrier in implementing inclusive education. Special education and integrated education models exist in Bangladesh. The difference is that almost all school age children with disabilities in developed countries such as Australia are in education, whereas, 89% of children with disabilities are not in education in Bangladesh. New initiatives for Bangladesh are described, and further initiatives are suggested, such as link programmes between regular and special schools, dual placement provisions, development of special units in regular schools, initiation of model schools for others to follow and inter‐ministerial and inter‐agency collaborations to improve inclusive education practices.

Given concern about the decreasing numbers of staff with qualifications in special education in Victorian government specialist schools (schools for students with special educational needs), a survey was distributed to all 81 of these schools to gather information about teacher qualifications and age. A very high response rate of 94% was obtained. The results showed a very wide range of numbers of staff possessing a special education qualification in different schools. It is of concern that in 15 schools (almost 20% of respondent schools) fewer than half the staff had special education qualifications, while in a further 33 schools (43%) between 50% and 79% of the staff had special education qualifications. To add to this concern, there was a large proportion of older teachers in the schools, with 70% of principals and 40% of teachers likely to retire over the next five years. The implications of this for the staffing of the specialist schools are discussed, leading to suggestions for the future.

As students who have difficulty in acquiring the basic processes in reading are significantly disadvantaged in later schooling, there is a need for effective interventions for young at-risk students. Reading Recovery is the most widely known and extensively promoted intervention for young struggling readers. However, serious reservations have been expressed about both its efficacy and its cost-effectiveness. An alternative intervention (MINILIT), that incorporates findings and recommendations of recent reviews of research about effective instruction in early literacy, has been developed. This intervention features small-group instruction by tutors. The results of three pilot studies of MINILIT are presented. These studies were carried out with Year 1 and Year 2 students in a variety of settings. The students, who were identified as struggling readers by teachers in their schools, attended tutoring sessions for one hour a day, four days a week, for 15 weeks. Pre-testing of individual students on standardised and curriculum-based tests was carried out prior to the intervention and testing was repeated after 15 weeks. Data indicate that students who completed the intervention made significant and substantial gains in both reading and spelling. Results suggest that MINILIT may be a viable intervention that may achieve results similar to, or better than, existing programs with greater cost-effectiveness.

This brief report describes recent data on the enrolment of students in New South Wales (NSW) government special schools and special classes. There has been an increase in both special school and special class enrolments since 1998 with large increases among students with emotional disturbance. This pattern is briefly discussed in relation to government policy and legislation, social and political factors as well as the notion that there may be a threshold for the extent of inclusion of students with special needs in NSW government schools.

The role of the family in providing a quality education program is important for all students. For students with special educational needs, however, the role of the family is particularly critical. In such families, there can be an increased amount of stress and, at the same time, a range of coping strategies evolving. Research into the ways that families cope with stress uses various life quality indicators (e.g., emotional, physical and material well-being, interpersonal relations, personal development, self-determination or social inclusion) to evaluate the effectiveness of these coping mechanisms. The role of the family (with specific focus on its links with schools) is often overlooked, yet is crucial to attaining long-term benefits for the student.

The aim of this article is to promote discussion and professional development around the topic of learning difficulties in mathematics, particularly as these pertain to teaching and learning in the middle school years. The article has three sections. In the first section, a review of literature about learning difficulties (LD) in mathematics is presented. Definitional issues are discussed, key underlying causes of LD in mathematics are highlighted and common ‘learner characteristics’ of middle-years students with LD in mathematics are identified. The second part of the article is an overview of a responsive intervention currently being developed to support middle-years students with LD in mathematics. This section describes the implementation of the QuickSmart mathematics intervention with 42 participating students and 12 comparison students enrolled in five schools from a rural area of New South Wales. The results of pre-intervention and post-intervention assessments, using both standardised and achievement-based measures are reported. The findings indicate that the QuickSmart intervention approach improved students’ mathematical knowledge, skills and understandings. In the third section of the article research-validated, curriculum-relevant strategies from the QuickSmart mathematics program are described.