Attitudes of preschool children`s parents towards inclusion of children with special needs into regular kindergarten classes

Inkluzivni vrtec mora prepoznati in odgovoriti na različne potrebe svojih otrok, tako da se jim prilagaja vsebina, organizacija in načini izvajanja. Osnovni princip inkluzivnega vrtca je, da se vsi otroci učijo skupaj ne glede na težave in razlike, ki jih imajo. Za kvalitetno izvajanje inkluzije je pomembno, da je vzgojitelj pozitivno naravnan do vključevanja otrok s posebnimi potrebami (pozitivna stališča do otrok s posebnimi potrebami, njegovih znanj, pedagoških pristopov, metod dela …). Poleg tega je pomembno tudi dobro sodelovanje med strokovnjaki in med strokovnjaki ter starši, saj imajo slednji pomembno vlogo pri izdelavi individualiziranega programa za otroka s posebnimi potrebami. Namen empirične raziskave je bil ugotoviti, kakšne so izkušnje staršev z otroki s posebnimi potrebami, kakšna so stališča staršev otrok brez posebnih potreb in otrok s posebnimi potrebami do vključevanja otrok z različnimi motnjami v redne oddelke vrtca in kakšna so stališča staršev do funkcioniranja otrok s posebnimi potrebami v rednih oddelkih vrtca in do funkcioniranja otrok brez posebnih potreb v takšnem oddelku. Instrument raziskave je bil anketni vprašalnik, zbrani podatki so bili obdelani s programom SPSS. Raziskovalni vzorec je zajel 202 starša otrok brez posebnih potreb in otrok s posebnimi potrebami. Rezultati kažejo, da imajo starši pozitivna stališča do vključevanja otrok s posebnimi potrebami v redne oddelke vrtca. Osveščanje staršev o različnih razvojnih motnjah, dodatno usposabljanje vzgojiteljev in njihovih pomočnikov ter še bolj skrbno načrtovano sodelovanje z drugimi strokovnjaki bi pripomoglo k lažjemu in uspešnejšemu vključevanju otrok s posebnimi potrebami v redne oddelke vrtca.An inclusive kindergarten must recognise and respond to different needs of children by adjusting its content, organisation and classroom practices. The basic principle of inclusive kindergartens is that all children learn together despite their difficulties and differences. In order to carry out a quality inclusive programme, it is important for the teacher to have a positive stance towards integration of children with special needs (positive attitude towards children with special needs, their own knowledge, pedagogical approaches, work methods, etc.) Beside this, it is also important to have a good cooperation between experts and between experts and parents, the latter having an important role in creating the individual programme for a child with special needs. The purpose of the empirical study was to find out what kind of experiences parents of children with special needs have had, the attitudes of parents of children without special needs and parents of children with special needs towards integrating children with various disabilities into regular kindergarten classes and attitudes of parents concerning the way children with special needs function in regular classes and how children without special needs function in such classes. The instrument of the research was a questionnairethe gathered data was then processed with the SPSS programme. The research pattern involved 202 parents of children without special needs and children with special needs. The results show that parents have positive attitudes towards inclusion of children with special needs in regular kindergarten classes. Informing the parents about various developmental disorders, additional training for teachers and their practitioners and a carefully planned cooperation with other experts would help make the process of integrating children with special educational needs into general preschool classrooms easier and more successful