DESPITE INITIAL FEARS, TEACHERS REPORT THAT 
INTEGRATING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES 
INTO REGULAR CLASSROOMS WORKS WELL

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Oct. 11 -- Teachers in five Virginia
school districts believe that students with disabilities have been
successfully integrated in regular classrooms, a recent study has
found. 	
	Although the majority of teachers interviewed for the study
had initial misgivings about educating special-needs children in
their classrooms, they believed the arrangement had benefitted all
students.  The study's results are reported in "Integrating Students
with Moderate and Severe Disabilities into General Education
Classes" in the 1995 "Exceptional Children" journal. The lead
authors of the article in the journal, published by the Council for
Exceptional Children, are Rachel E. Janney, an assistant professor
of education at Radford University, and Martha E. Snell, a professor
in the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education.
	Teachers said that students with moderate disabilities
gained increased independence and improved functional skills by
being placed in regular classrooms; they felt that children with
severe disabilities showed increased alertness and interest in their
environment.  
	Most of the educators surveyed said that inclusion, the
practice of bringing students with disabilities into regular
classrooms, promoted social benefits in the children, including
acquiring age-appropriate behaviors, developing friendships and
gaining self-esteem.  Teachers felt students without disabilities
had also grown in self-esteem and the ability to accept individuals
with differences.
	Both general and special education teachers indicated that
inclusion had not significantly increased their work loads and that
the benefits had outweighed the costs.  "After comparing the costs
of teacher time and energy with the benefits students receive, these
teachers clearly judged integration of students with moderate and
severe disabilities into general education classrooms as
successful," said Snell.
	Although most teachers were hesitant initially to integrate
students in their classrooms, they reported that their fears were
soon mitigated. They said their fears were based on inaccurate
perceptions of the integrated students' needs.
	"After gaining knowledge of the students' abilities, some
teachers even reported that they were 'hooked' on the benefits of
inclusion," said Snell, co-author of two other 1995 articles on
teachers' attitudes about integrating students into regular
classrooms.
	Snell, Janney and two other educators interviewed 53
teachers and administrators in school districts that ranged in size
from small rural to large urban.  They interviewed elementary,
middle and high school teachers to determine their perceptions of
inclusion and the factors they believe facilitated or hindered its
success.	
	Teachers indicated that successful integration was
facilitated by clear district mission statements that explained its
value. They also recommended using a team approach involving
parents, teachers and administrators in preparing for integration.
More than two-thirds of the teachers cited the support offered by
their principals, who provided in-service training programs, on-site
consultants and opportunities to visit integrated schools, as
effective ways to prepare for inclusion.	
	"Interviewees noted that principals' collaborative,
problem-solving approaches encouraged a positive attitude toward
integration," said Snell, who has been assisting 17 Virginia school
districts in implementing inclusion.
	Teachers also advised moving toward inclusion slowly --
exposing students with disabilities gradually to general-education
classes.  "Such an approach allows teachers to gain knowledge of
individual abilities, which helps provide a new perspective on
disabilities in general," Snell said. 
	Teachers said their greatest barriers to inclusion were
their initial fears.  Other obstacles were logistical and
environmental.  They noted it is critically important for
administrators to obtain adequate staff, equipment and materials and
to determine that buildings are accessible to people with
disabilities.
###
October 10, 1995
FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact Snell at (804) 924-0768.