“I'm Not Sure I Can Handle the Kids, Especially, the, uh, You Know Special Ed Kids”

Abstract

In this article, we report the results of a study aimed at evaluating the impact of an inclusionary field-based experience on the attitudes of preservice undergraduate elementary education majors towards children with exceptionalities. We were interested in finding out whether such experiences lead to more positive attitudes towards exceptional children in the regular classroom. The attitudes of three intact groups of elementary preservice teachers (n=55) were measured before and after completion of either a traditional methods course or a field-experience course. The results revealed no statistically significant differences among the three groups of students with respect to their attitudes towards exceptional children in the regular classroom. These findings suggest that changes in the attitudes of preservice teachers towards students with disabilities will require more than simple exposure to these students in the regular classroom. Such findings support prior research suggesting that complete integration and acceptance of students with disabilities will happen only if we see long-term changes in the attitudes of educational professionals (Antonak & Larrivee, 1995). “I feel comfortable teaching math and reading, but I'm not sure if I can handle the kids, especially, the, uh, you know special ed kids. (Anonymous college student)