Communities,families, and inclusion

Widespread interest in the concept of inclusion for young children with disabilities has been focused primarily on inclusion in day care and classroom settings. While these contexts provide important opportunities for inclusion, many other community contexts are also important. Interviews with families of children with and without disabilities were analyzed to identify factors that facilitated or served as barriers to children's inclusion in community settings. These factors are described in terms of their application to children with and without disabilities and the extent to which they were reflected in communities of varying size and various income levels. Results are interpreted with respect to an ecological model and are discussed in terms of their implications for intervention.     

北京市0-7岁残疾儿童家庭需求调查研究

本研究旨在了解北京市0-7岁残疾儿童家庭康复需求的状况,为政府部门建构残疾儿童康复服务支持体系提供参考建议,对133名北京市智力残疾、听力残疾、肢体残疾、精神残疾、多重残疾共5类残疾儿童家长进行问卷调查。结果发现残疾儿童家长对咨讯支持、经济支持和专业支持需求强烈,对服务支持和精神支持也有较强需求。残疾孩子的母亲对咨讯支持需求显著高于残疾孩子的父亲,40岁以上的被试对精神支持需求显著高于40岁以下的被试,残疾程度为重度（一级）的家庭对精神支持需求显著高于其他残疾程度儿童家庭。研究者认为北京市0-7岁残疾儿童家庭康复需求强烈,相关部门和机构应适时给予残疾儿童及其家庭适当的支持服务。     

The effect of activity type on the engagement and interaction of young children with disabilities in inclusive childcare settings

The engagement and adult and peer interaction of 37 young children with a range of disabilities was measured in free play, group, and meal-routine activities in inclusive childcare settings. A significant effect for activity type was found for total engagement, active engagement, and passive engagement, with the children being more engaged in free-play and meal-routine activities than group activities. Free-play and meal-routine activities provided better opportunities for active engagement than did group activities, but children were more actively engaged during meal-routine activities than during free play. Passive engagement was more commonly observed during group activities. Children interacted more with their peers during free play. When children with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder were compared with children with other disabilities, they were found to be significantly less engaged during free play and interacted less with their peers. The implications of these findings for inclusive practice in childcare settings are discussed.     

Fathers’ Perception of Their Role in Parenting a Child with Cerebral Palsy: Implications for Counselling

The main objectives of this study were to explore how fathers of children with cerebral palsy see their own role as fathers and to identify what fathers think has influenced them in the role-making process. It was hoped that this study would provide a better understanding of how fathers view their role, to the various professionals working and providing support to the families of the children with disability. This understanding would then enable professionals to involve fathers in more meaningful ways while rendering their professional services. The study results show that fathers show empathy towards their children with disabilities, and find creative solutions to deal with problems related to the disability. Parents find books and information about the disability to be very helpful.     

Effects of Children with Disabilities on Fathers: A Review and Analysis of the Literature

A review of the literature located eight published studies which focused specifically on the effects on fathers of parenting children with disabilities. Another five studies have focused on fathers' involvement in programs aimed at their children or themselves. There have also been nine reviews of the literature on such fathers. From a review of the existing literature there emerges a fairly clear consensus of assertions regarding the effects on fathers. However, from an analysis of this literature, limited research evidence was found in support of these assertions. This suggests that the existing literature provides a somewhat erroneous view of the experiences of such fathers.     

Father involvement in young children’s care and education: exploring boundaries and starting conversations

This paper analyses the impact of a UK local authority initiative – Fathers’ Friday – aiming to involve fathers in their children’s education, which took place in 20 early years’ and primary school settings. Whilst the study involved a range of methods, in this paper interview data associated with practitioners’ perspectives of the initiative are used. Theoretically, Bernstein’s concept of boundary and related notions of classification and framing provide a framework for exploring fathers’ positioning, and Bernstein’s concept of ‘voice’ helps to explain how relations are repositioned, as fathers engage with settings through their participation in the initiative. The authors’ contention is that whilst an existing structure of social relations positions how settings and individuals can relate to one another, experiencing the Fathers’ Friday initiative under changed conditions produces a weakened boundary space for fathers, from which ‘conversations can start’. Children themselves form part of this process of redrawing weakened boundaries.     

A comparison of multiple methods for the identification of children with reading disabilities

There has been considerable discussion of the methods used for the identification of children with reading disabilities. This study examined three different methods that could be used in the identification of children with reading disabilities and their consistency with teacher ratings of behaviors believed to be associated with reading disabilities. Standardized, norm-referenced measures of achievement, phonological processing measures, and curriculum-based measures of reading fluency were used with 40 children in Grades 1 and 2. Comparisons were made to determine which measures, if any, differentiated between children referred for reading disabilities (n = 20) and children who were progressing typically in reading in their general education classroom settings (n = 20). The results indicated significant between-group differences on standardized, norm-referenced measures of reading recognition, word attack, and comprehension; phonological measures of blending nonwords and elision; and reading fluency. Teacher ratings on the Dyslexia Screening Instrument were consistent with teacher beliefs regarding children's progress in reading. All measures were found to correlate significantly with each other. However, correlations were generally in the moderate range, suggesting that the measures used did not measure the same reading skills or, in the case of phonological processing, the underlying abilities believed to be necessary for reading. Given the differences in tasks and the moderate correlations, it is likely that the choice of measures may affect the conclusions reached regarding a student's reading ability.     

The social experience of early childhood for children with learning disabilities: inclusion,competence and agency

This paper tells of the social experiences of three four‐year‐old children with learning disabilities as they negotiate their daily lives in their homes and early education settings in England. We apply a social model of childhood disability to the relatively unexplored territory of young children and use vignettes drawn from video observation to explore the interactive spaces contained in settings with different cultures of inclusion. Using a multimodal approach to the data we show the nuanced ways in which the children enact their agency. We explore the relationships between agency, culture and structure, and argue that children with learning disabilities are active in making meaning within social and relational networks to which they contribute differently depending on the barriers to doing and being that each network presents. Thus, the paper provides an original use of the notion of distributed competence.     

‘It’s the most important thing – I mean,the schooling’: father involvement in the education of children with autism

Father involvement in education has been shown to result in a range of positive outcomes for typically developing children. However, the nature of paternal involvement in the education of children with disabilities and especially autism has been under-researched and is little understood. This study aimed to explore the nature of the involvement of 25 UK fathers in the education and their children with autism, aged up to 19 years through the use of semistructured interviews. Findings showed that fathers were highly engaged both directly and indirectly across several dimensions of their children’s education and schooling. Key areas of indirect engagement were involvement in administrative processes necessary for securing an appropriate educational placement; facilitating daily access to school and general support of children’s progress through attendance at school-based meetings and events. Direct support for learning occurred through homework assistance and working on school-related goal. Findings are discussed in relation to diversity and generative models of fatherhood. Implications for greater father inclusion in the education of children with autism are explored with reference to a gender-differentiated approach.     

Preschool inclusion in the United States: a review of research from an ecological systems perspective

Using an ecological systems conceptual framework proposed by Bronfenbrenner, research on the inclusion of preschool children with disabilities in programs with typically developing children was reviewed. Drawing mainly from studies conducted in the United States, research on child characteristics (biosystem), classroom practices (microsystem), family perspectives (mesosystem), social policy (exosystem), culture (macrosystem), and changes in variables across time (chronosystem) is described. Positive developmental and behavioral outcomes occur for children with and without disabilities in inclusive settings, although as a group, children with disabilities are not as socially integrated as their typically developing peers. Parent attitudes are generally positive although they voice some concerns about inclusion. Several social policy issues within the U.S. system (e.g., enforcement of standards, fiscal issues) serve as barriers to and facilitators of implementation of preschool inclusion, and cultural variables shape the nature of inclusive classrooms as well as family access to inclusive settings.     

Effective Social Interaction Strategies for Inclusive Settings

Many strategies and interventions exist in the education of young children with disabilities. One area of intervention is that of social interaction, including social skills instruction, peer interaction strategies, and play skills. Interaction and social skill strategies for use with children with and without disabilities for the purpose of increasing social interactions between children with and without disabilities in educational settings is an area many educators of early childhood special education strive to find in an effective and easy to implement format. Several strategies from research are presented in this article. Only strategies that were demonstrated to be successful through reported research are discussed. Strategies are identified according to their ease of implementation and effectiveness.     

Negotiating Normalcy with Peers in Contexts of Inclusion: Perceptions of youth with disabilities in India

The qualitative study reported in this article investigated how youth with disabilities in India described their peer relationships within their educational settings. We situate the aims of this study within the larger context of inclusive education in India and discourses on self-determination for individuals with disabilities. Findings from the study suggest that students with disabilities actively sought membership in their peer communities but had few opportunities within inhospitable schooling contexts to represent themselves in ways other than as needing help. For families of students with disabilities, the onerous demands of making physical environments and curricular materials accessible to their children left them isolated within schools and their communities. The study sheds light on families’ reluctance to abandon legal guardianship models in order to support increased self-determination for their children, and also raises important questions for activist educators working within complex conditions such as the Indian context.     

Social IEP Objectives, Teacher Talk, and Peer Interaction in Inclusive and Segregated Preschool Settings

The purpose of this study was to examine: (a) the role of teacher talk in promoting peer interaction, (b) the adequacy of social IEP objectives to reflect children’s social functioning and guide provision of teacher talk, and (c) differences in children’s peer interaction and teacher talk in inclusive and segregated settings. Thirty children with disabilities and their teachers participated. Overall, we observed low rates of teacher talk thought to support peer interaction; however, when teachers verbally facilitated peer interaction, children were observed interacting more frequently with peers. Children’s social IEPs accurately reflected their current level of social functioning. However, the social IEPs appeared to fail to influence teacher intervention. Finally, children with disabilities in inclusive settings interacted with peers more than children in segregated settings, even though there was no significant difference in amount of teacher talk in the two settings.     

The Home Play of Toddlers with Disabilities: Contexts and maternal perspectives

A multiple case‐study design was used to explore the spontaneous play of three toddlers with disabilities as it emerged in the course of everyday activity in the home. Children were observed at home playing independently and with their mothers. Data consist of videotaped naturalistic observations in the children’s homes and mothers’ perspectives of their child’s play obtained in semi‐structured interviews. There was a great deal of similarity in the playful behaviour of toddlers and their mothers. Toddlers were active players throughout all daily routines and their play reflected their developmental level. Mothers actively supported their children’s initiative and engagement in play and they spoke of play as a highly valued behaviour. Some qualitative differences were noted in child and mother–child play, which seemed to relate to the nature of the child’s disability and developmental level. Further study of the play of young children with disabilities in naturalistic settings and ways that mothers and other caregivers value and support child play is recommended.     

Does Absenteeism Differ for Children with Disabilities in Full-Day versus Part-Day Kindergarten?1

Little is known about the effects of attending full-day versus part-day kindergarten for children with disabilities, and nothing is known about how these settings link to differences in children's school absences. This is concerning, given that children with disabilities have higher absence rates compared to children in the general population. To address this gap, this study examined a nationally-representative sample of kindergartners with disabilities and inquired into whether going to full- versus part-day kindergarten predicted differences in absences. Children with disabilities in full-day kindergarten had more total number of school days missed as well as a higher chance of being chronically absent compared to those children in part-day kindergarten. However, the size of this association was reduced for children with disabilities in lower-SES families and for boys with disabilities. There were no differences by disability category. Policy implications are discussed in terms of how early educational settings can be most supportive, and for whom.     

Social interaction interventions in an inclusive era: Attitudes of teachers in early childhood self‐contained and inclusive settings

This study investigated the perceptions and attitudes of teachers in early childhood settings toward social interaction interventions appropriate for young children with disabilities. Participants were 137 teachers working in either self‐contained classroom settings (SC) or inclusive classroom settings (INC). Variables that might interfere with perceived acceptability, feasibility, and current use of interventions were explored. These included theoretical orientation, attitude toward inclusion, experience working with children with disabilities, and teacher efficacy. Results indicated that SC and INC teachers are strikingly similar in their perceptions of interventions despite literature‐based indications that philosophical and theoretical differences between the two groups might influence attitudes. Implications for consultation practices by school psychologists and related professionals are discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 42: 53–63, 2005.     

An ecobehavioural analysis of interactive engagement of children with developmental disabilities with their peers in inclusive preschools

Ecobehavioural analysis procedures were used to examine the interactive engagement of children with developmental disabilities due to Down syndrome who attended inclusive preschools for 2 years. Compared with typical children, the children with disabilities displayed infrequent interactions with peers for the duration of the study. For the children with disabilities, interactive engagement was largely unrelated to the characteristics of class activities, while typical children responded positively to activities expected to promote peer interaction. The results are discussed in terms of the inadequacy of informal strategies commonly applied in inclusive preschool settings to promote interactive engagement in children with disabilities.     

Inclusion at risk? Push- and pull-out phenomena in inclusive school systems: the Italian and Norwegian experiences

The main objective of this article is to explore and compare research data on pull-out and push-out phenomena within inclusive school systems, discussing if and how they represent a risk for inclusion. The terms pull-out and push-out refer to situations in which some groups of students in regular schools learn in settings apart from their peers. Typically, the terms push out and pull out refer to students with disabilities or other special-education needs, but the phenomenon does not refer to these groups exclusively. Italy and Norway are among the European countries that first established inclusive school systems through laws that explicitly refer to what later was to become global inclusive education ideas. Both countries have a reputation for inclusive education and a history of addressing segregation of students with disabilities. However, in both countries, recent data have shown an increase in the removal of students with disabilities and other SEN from regular classrooms. Our aim is to describe and analyse these phenomena through national statistics and data from different independent research projects. Results indicate that, contrary to intentions, special-education-school-type solutions persist along with flexible adaptations within whole-class and group settings for all children.