Volume 3 Number 2 2003 122–129 doi: …

1 122 NASEN 2003 Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs Volume 3 Number 2 2003 122 129doi: blackwell publishing ltdoxford , UKJORSENJ ournal of Research in Special Educational Needs1471-3802 NASEN 20032003321000 Original Article Parents attitudes to inclusion of their children with special needs John Elkins, Christina E. van Kraayenoord and Anne Jobling The University of Queensland, Australia Key words : parents, attitudes, inclusion, inclusive education, special needs, disabilities. This study investigated the attitudes of 354 Australian parents who have a child with a disabilityand who attends a state school in Queensland. Thetypes of disability of the children were broadly inaccordance with accepted prevalence figures, exceptfor a greater Number reported as having autisticspectrum disorder and fewer students with a learningdifficulty/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

2 Thechildren were in a range of classes, from specialschools to schools where there was in-class helpfrom a special teacher or teacher aide. Many of theparents favoured inclusion, some would if additionalresources were provided, and a small group ofparents favoured special placement. There were alimited Number of negative attitudes to inclusionreported by the parents, and though some parentsthought that some need existed for in-serviceeducation about inclusion, this was not a widespreadview. Introduction The term inclusive education is nowadays broadlyconceptualised to include students from differentbackgrounds and with languages other than English, as wellas students with disabilities (Ashman, 2002). However, forthe purposes of this study, the term inclusion is defined aspartial or full inclusion in regular classrooms, with the levelof inclusion being dependent upon the severity and numberof disabilities and the level of additional support availablefor that student (Fuchs & Fuchs, 1994, cited in McNally,Cole & Waugh, 2001, p.)

3 258).A successful system of inclusion requires that thecommunity believe in the competence of the educationsystem to meet the needs of all students. Parents especiallyhave to have confidence in the capacity of the schools tounderstand and effectively educate their children withspecial needs. Given the current policies of inclusiveeducation, children with special needs are increasinglybeing educated with their non-disabled peers in the regularclassroom. Therefore, the purpose of this study was toinvestigate the attitudes of parents of students withdisabilities, with regard to the inclusion of their childrenwithin the regular education research literature indicates that there is a wide rangeof opinion amongst parents related to the placement ofchildren in educational settings.

4 Some parents prefer andadvocate for inclusive placement, while others favourseparate placement (Grove & Fisher, 1999). As the trendtowards inclusion grows, one of the chief concerns ofparents is the protection of support services for their and King (1997) found that parents were moreconcerned about the degree to which their child s individualeducation plan (IEP) actually addressed the needs of theirchild when the child was being educated in an inclusivesetting, as opposed to a segregated setting. It may bedifficult for parents to find schools with personnel who aresufficiently knowledgeable about inclusive educationalgoals in order to provide appropriate services to their child(Grove & Fisher, 1999).Grove and Fisher (1999) also found that the parents in theirstudy viewed staff as lacking in knowledge about theirchild, and they found it difficult to access teachers or otherstaff willing both to provide them with information andreceive information from them.

5 Even when such a personis available, conflict can arise from divergent perspectivesabout the child s needs (Lake & Billingsley, 2000).A recent Australian study by Gilmore, Campbell andCuskelly (2003) examined the attitudes of experiencedteachers and the community to the inclusion of studentswith Down syndrome in regular classroom settings. Theyfound that parents recognised the educational, social andemotional benefits of inclusive education for both studentswith disabilities and their non-disabled classmates. Despitethese findings, the authors stated that the majority of parentsfelt that the needs of students with disabilities could bebetter met in special education classes. The authors foundthat those in the community who supported inclusive practiceshad fewer negative stereotypes about Down , Borthwick-Duffy, Widaman and Best (1998) foundthat parents of children with severe disabilities, whomet the following criteria, had positive attitudes towardsinclusion.

6 First, the parents saw socialisation as animportant educational goal. Second, their child hadrelatively higher cognitive skills, had fewer behaviouralproblems and had fewer characteristics requiring special NASEN 2003 123 education. Finally, their child had had more time in regularclassrooms. Using data from the Palmer et al. (1998) study,Palmer, Fuller, Arora and Nelson (2001) analysed thecomments of 140 parents of students with severe disabilitieswho were in special education settings to identify thereasons for their support of, or resistance to, inclusiveeducation. Positive affirmations about inclusive practicesprovided by about half of the parents revealed that theybelieved their children would enhance their achievementand develop improved functional skills due to higherexpectations and additional stimulation in regular parents who held negative attitudes towards inclusivepractices reported that the severity of the child s disabilitymeant that the regular classroom was not an option for theirchild.

7 The parents believed that regular education classeswere not accommodating enough for their child and thatthe teachers could be overburdened when students withdisabilities were in their classes. These parents wereconcerned with matters of class size, teaching conditions,and the demands of teaching to a diverse range of also indicated that their anti-inclusion stance wasdue to the fact that regular classrooms focused on theacademic curriculum, rather than on basic living orfunctional skills. It was the latter that they wanted for theirchildren. In general many of the parents opposed toinclusion were also concerned about aspects of inclusiveprogramming such as not receiving special attention, orfearing that their child would be mistreated, harmed orridiculed in the regular about socialisation were also expressed byparents in a study conducted by Freeman and Alkin (2000),who investigated parents attitudes to socialisation andinclusion.

8 Parents who participated in that study believedthat students with severe disabilities who were included inregular classroom settings would be rejected socially. Evenwhen parents believed inclusion to have beneficial socialimplications, they still maintained that those with severedisabilities would be analysis of research involving parents attitudes towardsinclusion of students with special needs has revealed fewrecent Australian studies. Although the education system ofAustralia parallels those of the UK and the USA in themove towards inclusive education, the outcome of studiesconducted with parents in these countries cannot be directlyapplied to Australian parents. Hence the need for furtherinvestigation of parents attitudes in study aims to investigate the attitudes of Australianparents who have a child with a disability and who attendsa school within the Queensland state education of parents attitudes, concerns and opinionsrelated to supporting students with special needs in theregular classroom was sought.

9 The findings may be usefulin enhancing the practices of supporting children withspecial needs and identifying the wishes of parents for theirchildren with special needs. Method Ethical clearance was obtained from the University ofQueensland s Social and Behavioural Sciences EthicalReview Committee, and permission was obtained fromEducation Queensland to approach their schools. Participants One hundred preschools, 150 primary schools and 150secondary schools were randomly selected from the lists ofpreschools, primary schools and secondary schools fromthe database of Education Queensland schools. A letter waswritten to the principal of each school requesting thattwo parents of students in the school who had a child witha disability ( , intellectual, physical, visual, hearing,autism, emotional, multiple and speech language) completethe Parent Survey and, once completed, it be returned to theresearchers in a stamped addressed envelope.

10 In addition anumber of parent organisations were contacted to seek theircooperation in distributing the Parent Survey to theirmembers. These organisations included Queensland Parentsfor Persons with a Disability, Down Syndrome AssociationQueensland and Spina Bifida Association. In addition wetried to obtain equal numbers of parents with students ineach disability category. As the data came in we noted thatthere were fewer parents of children with hearing andvision impairments and attempted to solicit furtherparents of children in these groups. An Information Letterand a Consent Form were provided to each parent. TheInformation Letter outlined the project and providedinformation about completing the Parent Survey. Thesigned Consent Form was to be returned with the ParentSurvey.