DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 290 316 EC 201 780

AUTHOR Case, Elizabeth J.; Leavitt, AlanTITLE Mental Health Project. P.L. 94-142. Evaluation

Report, 1985-86.INSTITUTION Albuquerque Public Schools, NM. Planning, Research

and Accountability.PUB DATE Dec 86NOTE 21p.PUB TYPE Reports - Descriptive (141)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS Administrator Education; Behavior Disorders;

Communication Problems; *Counseling Services;*Disabilities; Elementary Secondary Education;*Family Programs; *Family School Relationship; Grief;*Inservice Teacher Education; InterdisciplinaryApproach; Interprofessional Relationship; *SpecialEducation Teachers; Teacher Burnout; TransitionalPrograms

IDENTIFIERS *Albuquerque Public Schools NM

ABSTRACTThe Albuquerque (New Mecixo) Public Schools

established the Mental Health Project in August 1985 to provide aninterdisciplinary team approach to deliver direct/indirect counselingservices to selected special education students, families, and staff.Seventy-seven percent of the 88 students, ages 5-21, receivingservices were either behaviorally disordered or communicationdisordered and exhibiting behavioral problems; others were learningor multiply disabled. Clinical services provided students and theirfamilies achieved slight to complete alleviation of the referringproblem in 84 percent of the cases. Consultation services wereconsidered helpful by 63.5 percent of the special education teachers,counselors, and administrators receiving them for such problems asfeelings of failure, burnout, easing students' transition problemsfrom elementary to middle or middle to high school, and providingadvocacy for a child. Training activities provided to staff,teachers, and/or parents were considered helpful by the samepercentage. Training sessions promoting positive interaction withhandicapped children and their families covered such topics asgrieving and loss, behavior disorders, and teachar burnout. Anevaluation of the program indicated the need for administrators andteachers to receive more information about the program, improvedcommunication between project and school-based staff, clearercriteria for admitting students into the program, and additionalinservice training. (VW)

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from the original document.*******************************w***************************************

1985-86

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOffice of Educational Research and Improvement

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC)

fis document has been reproduced asreceived from the person or organizationoriginating rt.

O Minor changes have been made to improvereproduction Quality.

o Points of view or opinions stated in thiS dOCumeat do not necessarily represent officialOERI position or policy

EVALUATION REPORT

P.L. 94-142Mental Health Project

rAlliZIMMO

ALBUQUERQUEPUBLIC

SCHOOLS

BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2

"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISMATE IAL HAS BEE GRANTED BY

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."

ALBUQUERQUEPUBLIC

SCHOOLS

725 University, S.E.Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106

B OARD OF EDUCATI 0 N

ROBERT SANTIAGOPresident

WAYNE BINGHAMVice-President and

Chairperson/Finance Committee

MARK SANCHEZSecretary

IRA ROBINSON JOHN A. CANTWELLMember Member

LENORE WOLFE RALPH SIGALAMember Member

LILLIAN C. BARNASuperintendent

MARY K. NEBGENDeputy Superintendent, Instructional Services

PLANNING, RESEARCH, AND ACCOUNTABILITYCarol Robinson, Director

Patrick McDaniel, Assistant Directorfor Planning and Research

Prepared by:

Elizabeth J. Case, Ph.D.Program Evaluation Specialist and Plan Manager

With the assistance ofAlan Leavitt, M.A.

December 1986

EVALUATION Pr..,JORT

P.L. 94-142MENTAL HEALTH PROJECT

ADMINISTRATIVE SUMMARY 1

P.L. 94-142 MENTAL HEALTH PROJECT 1

Program Description 1

EVALUATION DESIGN 4Development Of The Study 4

Interviews 4Review Of Records 5Survey Research 5

FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS bOverview b

Clinical Services bDescription And Examples bProfile Of Students Served 7Effectiveness Of Clinical Services 9

Consultation Services 9Description And Examples 9Profile Of Those ReceivingConsultation Services 11

Effectiveness Of Consultation Services 11

Training_ Services 11Description And Examples 11

Description Of Those Served 11Effectiveness Of Training Services 12

What Was The Overall Effectiveness Of The Program? ... 12

What Can Be Done To MakeThe Program Stronger/More Effective? 13

,. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 15

REFERENCES 17

EVALUATION REPORT

P.L. 94-142MENTAL HEALTH PROJECT

ADMINISTRATIVE SUMMARY

Program Description

Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) -elected to use some of itsPublic Law 94-142 Education for All Handicapped Children Act-PartV (P.L. 94-142) monies to establish the Mental Health Project.The program began formally in August, 1985. According to APSSpecial Education records, the objective of the program was toprovide an interdisciplinary team approach to deliver direct/in-direct counseling services to selected special education stu-dents, families, and staff.

Six professional staff members were hired to create the MentalHealth Project Staff. The staff provided three major types ofservices to selected APS special education staff, students, andtheir families. Specifically:

1) Clinical Services were provided to selected special educationstudents and their families. Special education students werereferred to the staff, which, in turn, made case selectionand determination if the clinical services (direct services)were to be individual, group, or family therapy.

2) Consultation Services included services such as:a) Working with staff to prevent feelings of failure (e.g., not

being able to help a severely disabled child) or to helpstaff cope with burnout.

b) Helping teachers ease transition problems of studentsgoing from elementary to middle school or transferringfrom middle to high school.

c) Serving as an advocate for a child (e.g., helping staff orparents sec more realistic goals for a child).

3) Training Activities included sessions with staff, teachers,and/or parents where participants learned skills which helpedthem to interact positively with handicapped students and theirfamilies. Topics included handling grieving and loss, dealingwith students who act out, dealing with students who arebehaviorally disordered, and coping with teacher burnout.

Study Methodology

The study was designed to evaluate the program in terms of impacton special education students and staff. It also. looked at theoverall effectiveness of the program. Data for this study werecollected by three methods: interviews, review of records, andsurvey research.

Findings

The Mental Health Te-am Project had a positive impact on SpecialEducation staff and students. The major findings were:

1) The Mental Health Project Staff provided the following ser-vices:

a) Clinical Services (e.g., direct counseling) were providedto 88 students during the 1985-86 school year. Accordingto project staffs' data, 84% of the children served achievedslight to complete allevi-ation of the referring problemaccording to school -based staffs' and team staffs' percep-tions.

b) Consultation Services required 1200 hours for 1000 dif-ferent consultation sessions. Sixty-three and one-halfpercent (63.5 'h) of special education teachers, coun-selors, and administrators surveyed found the consulta-tion sessions to be helpful.

c) Training Activities were provided for teachers, staff, andparents consuming 320 hours for 180 sessions. Trainingsessions were considered to be helpful by 63.5% of teach-ers, counselors, and administrators responding to thesurvey.

2) Suggestions for improving the program were solicited in thesurveys and in interviews. The findings are summarized below:

a) Administrators and teachers indicated a need for moreinformation about the program, its services, referralprocedures, and goals.

b) Respondents indicated a need for more direct communicationbetween school-based staff and project staff regardingstudents receiving clinical services, especially whenstudents are being terminated from service.

c) Interview respondents indicated a need for a more detailedexplanation concerning why students were or were notaccepted for services.

d) Teachers and administrators requested inservices on topicssuch as:

1) How to document student growth.2) How to help parents and children to better

interact with each other.3) How to know what behavior management techniques

are appropriate for a child or family.4) How to defuse a situation when a family is in

disagreement with the school or District.5) How to deal with adolescent students who are

behaviorally disordered.6) How to deal with the frustrations of teaching

severely disabled students when students makeonly minimal gains.

2 6

.EVALUATION REPORT

P.L. 94-142MENTAL HEALTH PROJECT

Program Description

Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) alected to use some of itsPublic Law 94-142 Education for All Handicapped Children Act-PartB (P.L. 94-142) monies to establi-sh the Mental Health Project.The program began formally in August, 1985. The objective of the-program was to:

Provide an interdisciplinary teamapproach to the delivery ofdirect/indirect counseling servicesto the primary care providers,parents, and/or teachers of handi-capped students. (APS Applicationto the New Mexico State Departmentof Education, 1986 Plan, p. 37,Objective 2.)

Six professional staff members (two counselors and four socialworkers) were hired to form the Mental Health Project Staff. Thestaff provided three major types of services to selected APSspecial education students and their families, faculty, and staffmembers. Specifically:

1) Clinical Services were provided to selected special educationstudents and their families. Special education students werereferred to the staff, which, in turn, made case selection anddetermination if the clinical services (direct services) wereto be individual, group, or family therapy.

2) Consultation Services incluot2d services such as:a) Working with staff to prevent feelings of failure (not

being able to help a severely disabled child) or to helpstaff cope with burnout.

b) Helping teachers ease transition problems of studentsgoing from elementary to middle school or students trans-ferring from middle to high school.

c) Serving as an advocate for a child (e.g., helping staff orparents set more realistic goals for a child).

3) Training Activities included sessions with staff, teachers,and/or parents where participants learned skills which helpedthem to interact positively with handicapped students and.their families. Topics included handling grieving and loss,dealing with students who act out, dealing with students whoare behaviorally disordered, and coping with teacher burnout.

73

EVALUATION DESIGN

Development Of The Study

In January of 1986, Central Office Special Education administra-tors met with representatives from Planning, Research and Account-ability (PRA) to prioritize the 35 P.L. 94-142 components forstudy. The Mental Health Project was considered to be a priorityfor evaluation by the Special Education Department. Hence, itwas studied at the end of the 1985-86 school year.

The evaluator from PRA was assigned to study the impact andeffectiveness of the program. Beginning in April, 1986 theevaluator interviewed key Special Education administrators toascertain: (a) the goals of the program, (b) the services pro-vided by program staff, (c) administrators' perceptions of theprogram, and (d) questions that they wanted answered.

Research questions to be addressed and methods for data collec-tion were determined. Questions to be addressed were:

1. What were the services of the MentalHealth Project?

2. What was the impact of the programon students?

3. What was the impact of the programon APS staff?

4. What was the impact of the programon families of selected specialeducation students?

5. What was the overall effectivenessof the program?

6. What can be done to make the programstronger?

Data collection was accomplished through interviews, review ofrecords, and survey research. Each of these methods is brieflydescribed.

Interviews. Group and individual interviews of special educationteachers, administrators, principals, assistant principals, andproject staff were conducted prior to administering the surveyand, in some instances, after the survey. Pre-survey interviewswere designed to obtain background information, to find out aboutthe services provided by the project staff, and to determine ifthe interviewees had questions they would like to have answered.

All questions were incorporated into the study. Post-surveyinterviews were used to clarify issues raised in comments on thesurvey.

48

Review Of Records. Records in the Mental Health Project's officewere reviewed to determine the activities and services of theproject staff and to trace how the project's services wereutilized.

Survey Research. APS educators who utilized the project's ser-vices (principals, side-by-side assistant principals, programcoordinators, special education teachers, and counselors) weresurveyed to ascertain perceived impact and effectiveness of theprogram. Comments were solicited on the benefits of the programas well as suggestions regarding how the program could he madestronger. -

Fifty-two (52) or 53.1% of the 98 APS educators surveyed returnedusable questionnaires. Of the 46 who did not return instruments,26 or 26.5% called or wrote notes saying they were not aware ofthe activities of the project.

Rather than discuss the results of each data source in isolation,all information has been integrated according to topics throughoutthe discussion. The end result is a comprehensive picture of theeffectiveness and impact of the program.

9=,J

FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

Overview

The Mental Health Project provided three major services to select-ed special education students, students' families, and staff:clinical services, consultation services, and training services.Each service and its impact is discussed separately in the sectionthat follows. Sections are presented in the following order: (1)description and examples of services provided, (2) a profile ofthose served, and (3) a summary of the effectiveness of the ser-vices.

Clinical Services

Description And Examples. Project staff members provided clin-ical services to 88 selected special education students and theirfamilies. Table 1 summarizes the number of sessions and hours ofdirect cliniCal services provided by project staff.

TABLE 1SUMMARY OF CLINICAL SERVICES

PROVIDED BY STAFF

# OfServices # Of Sessions Hours

1. Intake - collecting bPck-ground data, concerns, andreferral paper work. 150 125

2. Referral and Case Presenta-tion - meeting with schoolstaff to review referral,review presenting problems,and decide if a child willreceive direct or indirectservices. 100 530

3. Therapy - providing therapysessions which were definedas clinical intervention onan individual, group, orfamily therapy basis. 850 1,100

4. Outreach - providing serviceson behalf of a client. Theseinclude referral to communityagencies, advocacy in school,and meeting with others. 270 275

TOTALS 1,370 2,0210

According to data summarized in Table 1, the project staff spent2,030 hours providing clinical seb vices to selected special educa-tion students and their families. Activities included intake,referral, case presentation to the team, therapy, and out-reach.

Profile Of Students Served. Of the 88 students receiving direct .

clinical services:

49% were behaviorally disordered28% were communication disordered

and were exhibiting behavioralproblems

16% were learning disabled- 7% were multiply disabled

Seventy-seven percent (77%) of the students were either behavior-ally disordered or were communication disordered and exhibitingbehavioral problems. These figures suggest inservice and trainingimplications for teachers of students with these handicappingconditions. According to regulations in the Educational Standardsfor New Mexico Schools (July, 1986):

Within the educational setting, thebehaviorally disordered child is onewhose behavior may be discordant inhis/her relationship with others andwhose academic achievement has beenimpaired due to an inability tolearn utilizing the presentedteaching techniques. The child'scurrent behavior manifests either anextreme or a persistent failure toadapt and function intellectually,emotionally, and socially at a levelcommensurate with his/her level and.chronological age. (13.4.1.1, p. 13

22)

Not only must teachers attempt to help students deal with behav-ior issues, they must also deal with teaching academics as well.Meeting the needs of children who are communication disordered andwho also exhibit behavior problems is challenging.

'Mg

Table 2 summarizes the breakdown of percentage of children servedin three age brackets. The first age bracket, 5-10 years of age,which coincides with elementary school ages, represents 44% ofthose served. Forty-three Percent 011%) of the students werebetween age 11-14, which coincides with middle school ages. Ages15-21 coincides with high school ages, yet only 13% of thosereceiving direct counseling services were in this age bracket.According to Project staffs' records, high school staff receivedthe same information about the program as other levels. ifHaring and McCormick (1986) were correct in their observationthat handicapped adolescents have more problems than other ages,one would expect that high schools would use the services of theMental Health Team at least as frequently as elementary andmiddle schools.

TABLE 2

SUMMARY OFAGE RANGES SERVED

AGE RANGE PERCENT

5-10 Yrs 4411-14 Yrs 4315-21 Yrs 13

100%

Of the students who received clinical services, 32 or 36.3% werehelped with school/family relationship types of problems. Theseproblems included: school personnel nrt realizing the long termconsequences of grief and loss for a child; school staff andparents having a major disagreement over the most appropriateplacement of a child; and conflict between home and school aris-ing when school staff tried to begin an intervention program witha family which was not ready to accept and utilize such a program.

An additional 34 or 38.6% received counseling services 'egardingpersonal or psychological issues. Some of these problems in-cluded: special education students' acting out in reaction to -Jmeproblems; a severely physically impaired child's having psychol-ogical problems which affect his ability to function at home andschool; and a child's behavioral disorders inhibiting learning inschool.

81

The remaining 22 or 25.1% of the students received clinicalservices in what project staff categorized as "societal impacts onfamilies and schools." One example of this type of problem wassh^wn by a situation where a single parent was required to workfrom 3pm-11pm, which severely limited the time available for thedisabled child. According to Haring and McCormick (1986), thistype of situation causes additional stress on a family, especial-ly when the child is handicapped. Another example provided bythe project staff reflected a situation where the value system ofschool personnel conflicted with the value system of the family.The conflict blocked positive interaction between the family andschool staff, until intervention-by the Mental Health Teamassisted in improvement of communication.

Effectiveness Of Clinical Services. Project staff surveyedschool-based staff to rate the effectiveness of clinical services.According to the ratings of school staff 74 or 84% of the stu-dents receiving clinical services achioed slight to completealleviation of the problem(s). Project staff members also ratedthe effectiveness of their efforts in providing clinical servicesto students. Interestingly, school-based staff tended to per-ceive a greater improvement than did project staff members in 22of the cases. In 52 of the cases, both staffs tended to perceiveprogress of students equally.

Project staff members pointed out that some respondents viewed noworsening of the problem as positive and therefore perceived theservices as being effective.

Consultation Services

Description And Examples. Project staff reported providing 1,000sessions (1200 hours) of consultation services to APS staff orselected special education students' families. Consultationservices included: (1) being an advocate for a student (e.g.,helping a school staff or parents have more realistic expecta-tions for a student); (2) suggesting materials or techniques forstaffs' use in improving the performance of a particular studentor students; (3) providing professional advice to teachers andstaff or strategies or alternative approaches in dealing with aparticular "type" of student; and, (4) helping parents learn betterways of dealing with their "special" children.

Consultation generally involved one project staff member's meetingwith school-based staff who work with a particular child or child-ren. The Mental Health Project staff member sometimes suggestedmaterials or strategies to staff members to improve the perform-ance of a particular child or children.

1

9

3

Figure 1 indicates the number of consultation sessions the sixteam members conducted during the 1985-86 school year. Thefigure also depicts the number of hours staff members spent inconsultation sessions during the 1985-86 school year.

FIGURE 1

SUMMARY OF NUMBER/HOURS OF CONSULTATIONS

117s133.73b

aREM

> ;;ti >?<J

s = # of sessionsh = hours per month?'

Ins13LW

_AarPaS

* Initially, staff daia were collectedon a 20-day basis. Since 20 day countswere not always adhered to, data wereconverted to months for this report.

to. na 13" : ;WO143.50h

A

As shown in Figure 1,sessions per month:

project members provided the following

September, 1985 - 22 sessions lasting 40.00 hoursOctober, 1985 - 74 sessions lasting 108.00 hoursNovembel', 1985 - 117 sessions lasting 125.50 hoursDecember, 1985 - 140 sessions lasting 145.50 hoursJanuary, 1986 - 139 sessions lasting 174.25 hoursFebruary, 1986 - 125 sessions lasting 125.50 hoursMarch, 1986 - 126 sessions lasting 150.75 hoursApril, 1986 126 sessions lasting 168.50 hoursMay, 1986 - 139 sessions lasting 143.50 hours

In September, 1985, the project's first full month of operation,team members provided 22 sessions lasting 40 hours. The numberof sessions increased dramatically during the next few months,averaging 112 sessions or 131.28 hours a month.

Profile Of Those Receiving Consultation Services. Specialeducation students' parents, special education teachers, regulareducation teachers, counselors, social workers, speech and lan-guage therapists, program coordinators, and aides all receivedconsultation services throughout the year. Specific numbersof individual groups of people who received consultationservices were not available.

Effectiveness Of The Consultation Services. Sixty-three and one-half percent (63.5%) of the professionals responding to the surveyfound the consultation services to be helpful. However, 36.5% ofthe respondents indicated that they did not know they could requestconsultations. It is apparent that professional staff needs tobe made more aware of the project's services and how to obtainthem.

Training Services

Description And Examples Of Training Services. Project staffreported spending 320 hours providing 120 training sessions to APSspecial education staff. Training sessions tended to be groupmeetings which were designed to transmit general information aboutworking with special education students while consultationservices tended to focus on a specific child's problems. Examplesof training programs included:

1) Re-emphasizing to APS staff that a variety of approachesto working with children can be used effectively withspecial children;

2) Training staff in setting up a parent support group;3) Training staff in strategies of working with children

who display behavioral problems;4) Training staff in additional ways of responding to the

needs of special education students;5) Training staff in conducting a case review process and

looking at alternative ways of dealing with special educa-tion students; and

Description Of Those Served. Training activities includedsessions with both regular and special education staff, as well aswith parents when appropriate. In these workshops, participantslearned skills to assist them in interacting with handicappedstudents and their families. Topics included handling grievingand loss, dealing with students who act out, dealing with studentswho are behaviorally disordered, and coping with teacher burnout.The precise numbers who received each of these services were notavailable.

1511

Effectiveness Of Training Services. According to survey results,the majority of the respondents (63.5%) found the training ses-sions helpful. However, 19.5% were not aware that they attendedan activity of the Mental Health Project--even though they in-dicated via telephone calls that they participated in the activ-ity. Another 17.5% said they did not know the services wereavailable.

The salient point of this discussion is that the services providedby the staff were perceived to be helpful by respondents. How-ever, it is clear that more people need to know who sponsored orconducted the services and that they can request these services.

What Was TheOverall EffectivenessOf The Prsoram?

Overall, interviewees and survey respondents perceived the ser-vices of the program to have had positive impact on students,staff, and program. For instance, 84% of students receivingclinical services improved, according to the perceptions ofschool based personnel and project staff. In addition, nearly64% of the respondents found consultation services of the projectto be helpful.

Comments from surveys and interviews revealed perceptions of theoverall effectiveness of the project, which are summarized below.The number of people making similar comments is noted in paren-theses after each comment. While the numbers might appear to belowf only 98 people were sent surveys and 52 or 53.1% respondedwith usable instruments.

Project staff members have helpedschool-based staff gain more insightabout special students and that thereare many possible approaches to use.(18)

- Project staff members are competent.They give nonjudgemental support toteachers, staff, and families. (13)

- Project staff were most helpful.School -based personnel appre-ciated nonjudgemental support of-fered to students and theirfamilies. (13 comments)

Project staff helped school-basedstaff deal with their frustrationsconcerning a student. Many timesteachers know what a child needs butcannot deal with not being able tomeet those needs. (8)

1612

Project staff has been quite helpfulin dealing with individual studentsand their families. (6)

What Can Be DoneTo Make TheProgram Stronger/More Effective?

All those surveyed were asked to list (and explain) any sugges-tions they might have to make the program stronger. The responsesare categorized and summarized in- the section that follows. Thenumber of people citing similar suggestions is noted in paren-theses at the end of each comment.

We need more information about theprogram and its services, as wellas how to refer a child, early in theyear. (22)

Spend more time on clinical ser-vices. (12)

- Focus more attention on trainingparents on how to deal with theirspecial child and behavior manage-ment techniques that can be used athome. (10)

Teachers need more help learning todeal with frustrated and irateparents so we don't have "war" bet-ween home and school. (8)

What criteria does the Team use toaccept or reject a child for ser-vices? It appears to be inconsis-tent from one school to the next.We could be more selective in refer-ring appropriate students if we knewabout the criteria. (8)

Spend more time in counseling andtraining services. (7)

We need more direct communicationwith teachers. We need feedback asproject staff work with a child andespecially if they are going toterminate services for a child. (6)

17

13

Several people suggested inservice topics. These suggestionsincluded:

1) How to document student growth.2) How to help parents and children better

deal with each other,3) How to know what approach is correct for a child or

family.4) How to defuse a situation when a family is in dis-

agreement with the school or District.5) How to deal with adolescent students who are

behaviorally disordered.6) How to deal with the frustrations of making only

minimal gains with severely disabled students.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The Mental Health Project was evaluated in April and May of 1996.The program had been in place for less than a year at the time ofthe study.

The study was designed to evaluate the program in terms of: (1)

identifying and defining the major activities of the program, and(2) evaluating the impact of each major activity. Data collectiontook three forms: interviews, review of records, and survey re-search.

Findings

According to survey results and the Mental Health Team's data, theMental Health Team Project had a positive impact on Special Educa-tion staff and students. The major findings were:

1) The Mental Health Project Staff provided:a) Clinical Services (e.g., direct counseling) were provided

to 88 students during the 19E15-86 school year. Accordingto project staffs' data, 84% of the children served achievedslight to complete alleviation of the referring problemaccording to school-based staffs' and team staffs' percep-tions.

b) Consultation Services were provided for 1200 hours for1000 different consultation sessions. Sixty-three andone-half percent (63.5%) of special education teachers,counselors, and administrators surveyed found the consul-tation sessions to be helpful.

c) Training Activities were provided for teachers, staff, andparents, consuming 320 hours for 180 sessions. Trainingsessions were considered to be helpful by 63.5% of theteachers, counselors, and administrators who responded tothe survey.

2) Suggestions for improving the program were solicited in thesurveys and in interviews. The findings are summarized below:a) Administrators and teachers indicated a need for more

information about the program, its services, referralprocedures, and goals.

b) Respondents indicated a need for more direct communicationbetween school-based staff and project staff regardingstudents in clinical services, especially when studentsare being terminated from service.

c) Interview respondents indicated a need for a more detailedexplanation concerning why students were or were notaccepted for services.

19

d) Teachers and administrators requested inservices ontopics such as:

1) How to document student growth.2) How to help parents and children better interact with

each other.3) How to know what behavior management techniques are

appropriate for a child or family.4) How to defuse a situation when a family is in dis-

agreement with the school or District.5) How to deal with adolescent students who are behav-

iorally disordered. -

6) How to deal with the frustrations of teaching severe-ly disabled students when students make only minimalgains.

Current APS policy insures that staff, including the pro-ject leader, will review the data and findings contained inthis report. A plan which includes appropriate steps toaddress identified program needs will be implemented.

20

16

REFERENCES

Albuquerque Public Schools, Application for Local EducationAgency, Education of the Handicapped Act, June 12, 1985, p. 37.(Application to the New Mexico State Department of Education forP.L. 94-142 Part B Funds.)

Bailey, D.B. and Simeonsson, R.J. Critical issues underlyingresearch and intervention with families. Journal of the Divisionfor Early Childhood, 1984, 9, pp 38-48.

Bailey, D.B. and Winton, P.J. Families and exceptionalities. InHaring, N. and McCormick, L. Exceptional Children and Youth (4thedition), Columbus: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co., 1986.

Haring, N. and McCormick, L. Exceptional Children and Youth (4thedition). Columbus: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co., 1986.