An Observational Study of How Elementary General Education Teachers Are Affected by the Inclusion of a Student with Mental Retardation in the General Education Classroom

A lot of research has examined the impact of teacher attitudes on the success of inclusion; however, additional research is needed that compares teacher behavior toward general education students with teacher behavior toward students with severe disabilities (Logan & Keefe, 1997). Since little is known about how the inclusion of students with mental retardation (MR) affects teachers as it relates to teacher behavior, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of the inclusion of a student with MR on teacher behavior. Specifically, the study examines the impact that a student with MR has on teacher behavior during four conditions: (a) when the student with MR was in the regular classroom without the assistance of a paraprofessional; (b) when the student with MR was in the regular classroom with the assistance of a paraprofessional; (c) when both the student with MR and the paraprofessional were not present in the regular classroom; and (d) when the paraprofessional is present in the regular classroom and the student with MR is not. Results indicated that the inclusion of a student with MR in two general education classrooms had minimal impact on teacher behavior. Implications were discussed regarding future research