Parental attitudes toward the special education placement of their mentally handicapped children

The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge level and degree of satisfaction of parents whose mentally handicapped child was receiving special education and/or related services provided by public school systems.One-hundred and thirty parents responded to three instruments constructed for this study.Findings MANOVA results revealed significant differences among the three parental groups (parents of mild, moderate, and severe/profound children) on the attitude measure toward the special education placement of their children. Post hoc tests and mean comparison data indicated that parents of mildly mentally handicapped children were more satisfied with the special education services than were the two other comparison groups.Data analysis using ANOVA indicated that sex of parents and level of retardation of the child had no significant main effect on the knowledge level of services mandated by Public Law 94-142.Pearson correlation coefficient results suggested that the special education program variables indicated higher positive linear correlation with the degree of parental satisfaction with the special education placement of their mentally handicapped children, than did the demographic variables.Conclusions and Recommendations Parents in this study lacked knowledge of their legal rights pertaining to special education programming and related services. Future research should be directed to understand the interactions among factors that might affect parents' knowledge of PL 94-142.Workshops and inservice programs should be organized and on-going to inform parents of their rights and responsibilities under state and federal special education laws, as well as implementing ways for increasing their involvement in supporting their child's education in the least restrictive educational setting.Inservice workshops should be carried out for regular teachers to ensure that those involved with the education of exceptional children possess competencies necessary to perform their jobs adequately. An array of service alternatives and placement options is necessary to meet the varied needs of all young mentally handicapped children.Future research on parental attitudes toward the special education placement of their mentally handicapped children should take into consideration cause-effect relationships, as well as the interrelatedness of child, parent, and program variables.Department of Special EducationThesis (D. Ed.