Comparing inclusive and segregated settings for children with dyslexia — parental perspectives from Ireland

Abstract

This study evaluates and compares special educational services for children with dyslexia in three different set tings: special schools, reading units and mainstream resource provision. The emphasis in this paper is on the parental perspectives. Participants were the parents of dyslexic children, aged eight to thirteen, who had been accessing special educational services for two academic years. Data involved individual postal questionnaires, returned by 113 parents. Results suggested that parents were generally very positive about special educational services across all three settings, although parents of children attending specialist services (in special schools and units) tended to be more satisfied and more positive about services than parents whose children attended mainstream resource provision. It was noted that, while parents expressed a preference for inclusive services in theory, in reality, once provided with services, parents were actually more satisfied with specialist segregated services. The discussion considers the implications of these findings in the context of the inclusion debate in special education.