HIGH RESOLUTION GAMMA CAMERA FOR SPECT IMAGING

Not Available With federal laws mandating inclusion of handicapped children in public schools to the maximum extent possible, many young disabled children are now in classrooms in which communication and interaction with their nonhandicapped peers can be extremely difficult and limited. There are close to 2 million children kindergarten through fourth grade with disabilities that seriously affect their communication in the classroom. (National Early Childhood Technical Assistance System, 1999). Studies document that nonhandicapped children often respond to their disabled peers with uncertainty and rejection, and interact with them much less frequently than with their nondisabled peers. This project proposes to develop and determine the feasibility of state-of-the-art materials that can be used by children in the classroom to assist them to comfortably and successfully communicate with their disabled classmates. During Phase I of this project, one mediated unit will be developed and evaluated to determine its feasibility and use with young children in classroom settings. Phase II will build on the development and field-testing done in Phase I and will result in a series of mediated units containing CD-ROM video, print materials, discussion guides, and activity kits for use in classrooms by children and their teachers.