General Educators' Attitudes Toward Students with Mild Disabilities and Their Use of Instructional Strategies

Abstract

In today's schools the demands of general educators to meet the diverse needs of their students have greatly increased. General educators need to have an increasingly large repertoire of instructional strategies to effectively meet their students' needs. In this study the frequency of several instructional strategies used by general educators at the middle school level (Grades 6, 7, and 8) was investigated. The frequency of the use of these instructional strategies by middle school teachers was compared to the amount of time they spent collaborating with special educators and also to the number of courses taken related to specialized techniques. This study also examined the attitudes general educators have toward the inclusion of students with mild disabilities. Findings indicated that the number of instructional strategies general educators use increases with the number of special education courses taken and the number of hours spent with special educators. In addition, some general educators may not have a positive attitude toward including students with disabilities in their classrooms. Discussion of these findings and implications for training are provided.