Author: Yvonne Rafferty; Vincenza Piscitelli; Caroline Boettcher
Source: Exceptional Children, Volume 69(4), Summer 2003, pages 467-479
This article discusses the impact that both inclusive (a combination of children with and without special needs) and self-contained (only having children with special needs) classrooms had on the language development (defined as auditory comprehension and expressive language) and social competence (defined as social skills and problem behaviors) of 96 New York preschoolers. The study took place at a community-based, privately run preschool, which provided services for children aged birth to five. The children in the sample were aged 33 to 57 months, and 65% had received early intervention services before entering preschool. There were two primary research questions: (1) which child, parent, and family characteristics positively affect a child?s developmental abilities, and (2) does placement type (inclusive or self-contained) interact with severity of disability; specifically, do children with milder disabilities do better in inclusive classes, and do children with more severe disabilities do better in self contained-classes? Assessment measures used to evaluate the children included a language development test (the Preschool Language Scale-3 (PLS-3)), a behavior skills test (the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS)-Teacher Version), and an intelligence test (the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised (WPPSI-R)). Information regarding prior assessment(s), demographics, and child, parent, and family characteristics, was obtained from each child?s file.
The researchers determined that at this particular preschool, higher functioning children were more likely to be placed in inclusive classes, while children classified as having severe disabilities were more likely to be placed in self-contained classrooms. Despite this trend, it was determined that the preschoolers with less severe disabilities made no more gains in their inclusive classes, than the preschoolers with more severe disabilities in the self-contained classes. However, those with more severe disabilities placed in inclusive classes showed greater progress in language development and social competence. Child, parent, and family characteristics were found to have no significant impact on progress in language development and social competence.
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