In this paper, first published in the ‘pilot edition’ of the Australian Journal of Special Education, Dr. Gardner looks at one aspect of Special Education, the possible deleterious effects of special placement on the child. The vexed issues of segregation and labelling are investigated carefully and fully and conclusions are drawn from the research. A number of currently fashionable alternatives are summarised and the article concludes with the oft-heard plea for well-organized and comprehensive research into special education services in Australia.

It we are serious in our attempts to develop ‘special instructional techniques’ in Special Education, we cannot afford to overlook the potential value of the ‘Behaviour Modification’ approach. Dr. Clunies-Ross summarizes the major features of the theory, relates the theory to teaching and challenges us with the assertion that while there appears to be ample evidence of the value of the approach in educational programmes for the mentally retarded overseas, “only very limited and isolated attempts” have been made to incorporate this approach in ‘special’ organizations in this country.

When examining the literature for Special Education instructional techniques, one inevitably encounters references to Precision Teaching. Ms Goninan attempts to define the concept and illustrate its applicability to the teaching of reading. While the classroom teacher would need more information on the operation of the strategy than provided in this paper, the major components of the technique are discussed and some important research conclusions regarding the teaching of reading, particularly reading comprehension, are reported.

In the first paper in this volume, Jim Gardner called for more local research. This paper, a report on a research programme which looks at the effects of motor programmes on children’s reading and spelling improvement, is an answer to that plea. The researchers, using three types of movement programmes, draw useful conclusions on the value of such an approach in the improvement of reading and spelling skills in the children studied.

This section is designed to provide readers with the opportunity to read about various ‘special centres’ which are providing a service to our exceptional children. It is likely that this feature could promote quite useful interchange of ideas as well as possibilities for communication between centres where personnel have mutual interests.