A Survey of Parents' Opinions on Mainstreaming the Handicapped into the Regular Classroom at Harry Spence School La Crosse, Wisconsin

Abstract

It was the purpose of this study. (1) to determine by means of a questionnaire the opinions and attitudes of parents in the Harry Spence Elementary School district concerning mainstreaming of handicapped children into the regular classroom! (2) to ascertain whether there was a relationship between opinions and attitudes toward mainstreaming and such variables as type of residence, annual income, leadership in the community, levels of education, and age of parents! (3) to review the literature and research studies pertaining to mainstreaming the handicapped child! and (4) to formulate any other conclusions from the results of the survey which may be regarded as significant by the surveyor. Fifty families from a random sampling of parents whose children were enrolled in the Harry Spence Elementary School were sent a seventeen-question questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of three parts. The first part consisted of questions describing the respondent by sex, annual income, type of residence, level of education, age, and community leadership. The second part consisted of questions pertaining to the respondent's personal views on how he felt about the handicapped when he was in the elementary grades and in high school. The final part consisted of questions about the respondent's views toward mainstreaming the various types of handicapped children into the regular classroom. Questions in parts two and three could be answered yes, no, or uncertain. There were provisions for comments by the respondent on these statements. The raw data was tabulated and treated with the statistical formula chi-square. The 1130 IBM computer at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse was used in analyzing the data. The data was also reported in percentages. The findings from the survey of Harry Spence Elementary School parents indicated that there was a significant difference in responses to two questions. The null hypotheses were rejected. It was also noted by this investigator that there were two other statements which were statistically close enough to being rejected to merit special notice or consideration. The percent of the responses throughout the survey indicated general agreement in attitudes and opinions among the Harry Spence Elementary School parents in regard to mainstreaming most types of handicapped children into the regular classroom.