Practices and Attitudes Toward Inclusion of Children and Youth With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Lyn Harris

Date of Graduation

Summer 2004

Degree

Master of Science in Education in Special Education

Department

Counseling, Leadership, and Special Education

Committee Chair

Linda Garrison-Kane

Abstract

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 1997), the Regular Education Initiative (REI, 1986), and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, 2001) have propelled educators toward a more integrated instructional model, commonly termed inclusion. The purpose of this study was to determine educators' attitudes toward inclusion of children and youth with emotional and behavioral disorders in the regular education classroom. Inclusive education practices and demographic information such as type of educational experience and school location were also addressed. A mail survey (Garrison-Harrell, Sasso, & Tankersley, 1993) was sent to educators whose names were obtained from a mailing list from the Midwest Symposium for Leadership in Behavior Disorders (MSLBD). Every third person was chosen from a 1200 participant list. The resulting data suggested that type of experience and school location indicated no signficant correlation with attitudes toward inclusion. The most striking data concerned the use or rather the neglect of research-based practices used in classrooms. Functional assessment, curriculum based assessment, and self-management were the three least used in a number of classrooms. Further research is needed to determine why 1/4 to 1/3 of educators do not use research-based practices.

Keywords

inclusion, disabilities, emotional/behavior disorder, perceptions, practices

Subject Categories

Special Education and Teaching

Copyright

© Lyn Harris

Citation-only

Dissertation/Thesis

Share

COinS