Parent perceptions and attitudes regarding the inclusion of students with mild to moderate disabilities into general classrooms have been mixed. In this qualitative study, the parents of 17 students with learning disabilities and 1 student with behavior disorders were interviewed following the first year of a junior high inclusion pilot program based on teacher and student collaborative teams. Twelve response categories are identified. Parents recognized personal attention for students and positive attributes of teachers as strengths of the program and increased student self-esteem as a positive outcome. The results indicate that the majority of the parents were supportive of the program and wanted it to continue.
Gifted and regular students in a special treatment school (school-wide enrichment, K-12; resource room grades 3-5 on problem solving/problem finding) were compared to gifted and regular students from a comparison (nontreatment) school on the Ross Test of Higher Cognitive Processes. The test was administered at the beginning (pretest) and end (posttest) of the school year. An analysis of covariance using the pretest as the covariate revealed that gifted students involved in special treatment programs made significant gains when compared to average ability students receiving special program treatment, as well as gifted and average ability students attending a regular school receiving no special treatment. It appears that special programming may have an effect on improving higher cognitive process functioning in gifted students, as measured by the Ross test.
The purpose of this qualitative study was to ascertain what effects an inclusive setting had on 14 students with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) in terms of school and academic behavior, social skills, and acceptance by peers according to teachers, administrators, general education peers, and the students themselves. The researchers focused on five main themes: (1) overall perception of the program, (2) curriculum adaptation, (3) effect on student social and personal behavior, (4) administrative support, and (5) general concerns. The findings support the practice of serving students with E/BD in a general classroom with adequate support services. They provide an impetus for future research efforts in this area.
This article describes the use of the critical incident technique in identifying special education professors' teaching and advising competencies. Special education professors and graduate and undergraduate students were asked to identify critical professorial behaviors they felt were necessary to effectively teach and advise college students. They named 3,882 critical behaviors, which were synthesized into a list of 120 specific statements of competency using critical incident technique procedures.
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