Introduction to Special Issue on Teachers' Perceptions: Issues Related to the Instruction of Students with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

The advent of the Regular Education Initiative (Will, 1986) and the resulting escalation of inclusion programs throughout the United States have led to increased numbers of students with learning disabilities (LD) in general education settings full-time. This trend has not gone without debate. Critics of a dual special education/general education system argue that traditional special education resource rooms and pull-out programs have failed to promote successful learning for students with special needs and have only served to alienate these students from interaction with their general education peers (Lipsky & Gartner, 1987; Reynolds, Wang, & Walberg, 1987; Stainback & Stainback, 1984). Advocates of a more cautious approach to inclusion submit that wholesale implementation of inclusion of students with disabilities in general education settings is premature without a substantive research base and adequate preparation of general education and special education teachers to assume new roles and responsibilities (Hallahan, Keller, McKinney, Lloyd, & Bryan, 1988; Keogh, 1988). In the midst of this controversy, we have been engaged in a series of investigations related to the instruction of students with LD in general education settings. Our research (over a nineyear period) has been conducted primarily in Dade County (Florida) Public Schools. Dade County is the fourth largest school district in the nation, with a large range of cultural and linguistic diversity represented in its student population. The classrooms we observe typically have more than 30 students, and include many students whose language in the home is different from that of school, students whose poverty influences their ability to learn, and who often have significant physical and cognitive problems that interfere with learning. Our descriptive research has sensitized us to the challenges of classroom teachers as they attempt to meet the needs of all students, including students with LD. Specifically, we have learned that: