Teachers' Perceptions of lncluding Students with Emotional Behavioral Disabilities in Their Classrooms

Abstract

This study looked at the perceptions of teachers that include students with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD) into the classroom. The review of literature proved that students with disabilities do cause stress for a teacher (Abidin and Robinson 2002). The literature also proved the importance of the teachers' perceptions in the classroom, and how those perceptions can affect the student with EBD in the classroom (Schwarz, Wolff and Cassar, 1997). The study involved sending a survey to teachers at all levels in a medium district in east central Wisconsin. The study asked about demographic information and questions concerning stress levels and feelings of success when working with students with EBD. The results showed that not all teachers knew which students have disabilities, or what the function of the disability is. The results showed that teachers continue to feel stress when working with students with EBD. Also, class size and case load affected the success that teachers felt when working with students with EBD.