Collaboration with parents is a sig- nificant component of the inclusion process. Indeed, in the United States the IDEA Act requires that local education agencies demon- strate that they have sought active parental participation in the Individual Program Planning (IPP) process, through such methods as flexible scheduling of meetings, babysitting services, transporta- tion, and translation services.78
Child care staff have stated that successful inclusion is hindered when the involvement of parents in planning special services is limited and when communication between child care staff and the parents of children with special needs is lack- ing (Buysse et al., 1998).79 Also im-
portant to staff attitude toward in- clusion is the sense that parents of children in their centre are sup- portive of the effort. It has often been assumed that the attitudes of two groups — parents of typically developing children and parents of children with special needs — might differ.
found that parents who feel own- ership of their child’s goals are more likely to consider these goals as top priorities in their family rou- tine, rather than as additional bur- dens that must be imposed on top of a full slate of family responsi- bilities. Just as parents need the guidance and support of early childhood professionals, so do pro- fessionals need the input and sup- port of the families. Family mem- bers provide insights into the indi- vidual strengths and needs of a child with a disability. Their knowl- edge of and intimate relationship with the child can help profession- als to make efficient use of their time, resources, and capabilities, and can help assure that plans and goals are relevant and workable from a family perspective.
In inclusive settings, parents of typically developing children might be expected to worry about the level of staff attention for their children; about the effects of curriculum modification and adaptations for the cognitive development of their children; about the negative behaviours that their children might pick up in imitating children with special needs. On the other hand, parents of children with spe- cial needs might be assumed to have a set of different concerns. Would the inclusive setting con- tinue to offer the specialized ser- vices of the segregated program? Would other children or other par- ents stigmatize their children? Would the emotional support of staff and other parents, often found in the specialized setting, disappear in the community one? Parents of both groups want a normalized environment for their children, but they also are concerned about the academic component of the pro- gram (Bailey & Winton, 198781;
Reichart et al., 198982).
Other studies have also noted that although parents of children with special needs desire normalized peer relationships for their chil- dren, the parents themselves often don’t interact with parents of typi- cally developing children and often feel alienated (Bailey & Winton, 198783; Blacher & Tur nbull,
198384). Many parents felt that in
order to ensure a strong inclusive program which emphasizes the development of all children, sup- ports in the forms of training, ex- tra staff, and special equipment were often needed (Bailey & Winton, 198785; Reichart et al.,
198986).
To determine whether the realities of inclusive preschools met with parents’ initial expectations, Bailey and Winton (1987)87 questioned
both families of children with spe- cial needs and families of typically developing children prior to enroll- ment and during the course of the program. The study was conducted at an established day care centre which had not previously served children with special needs. Nine of the children enrolled had a vari- ety of handicaps; the other fifty children were non-handicapped. Turnbull and Winton (1983)88 con-
structed questionnaires from ob- servations gathered in earlier stud- ies on parental perspectives of mainstreaming. Parents were asked to select from the series of statements the “greatest benefit” and “greatest drawback” of the mainstream program. The ques- tionnaires and attitude scales were first administered two weeks prior to enrollment, and again nine months after the beginning of the mainstreamed program.
Generally speaking, both groups’ expectations of the benefits of
mainstreaming did not change dur- ing the course of the study. Many respondents still believed the great- est benefits of mainstreaming were normalization and community ac- ceptance of the handicapped. Ini- tially, parents of both groups were concerned that teachers would not have enough time or training to deal with handicapped children, and there had been concerns that the handicapped children would be teased by the non-handicapped children. However, over time, most of the perceived drawbacks had dis- sipated; one exception was that families of the handicapped chil- dren still felt alienated.
Mainstreaming was seen by both groups of parents as working well. The authors did note that the find- ings described ‘average’ responses of groups of parents, but there was considerable variability in the re- sponses of individual families in both groups, suggesting that ser- vices to families should be individu- alized. The researchers also sug- gested that there is a need in mainstreamed day cares to encour- age “family-family interactions” as a means of alleviating the feelings of alienation in the families of handicapped children.
3.37 The Leadership Approach Taken