Inclusion and Parents of Children with Autism 1 Running head: Inclusion and Parents of Children wi th Autism Do Parents Prefer Special Schools for Their Childre n with Autism?

The social and communication difficulties of childr en with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) pose a special challenge to educational inclu sion. Previous research has suggested that, because of this, parents of children with ASD might be less favorable to educating their children in inclusive settings. In this study, 60 parents of children with ASD in the city of Seville (Spain) were interviewed about their perception of educatio nal provision. Parents were from three different groups, according to the children’s educa tional placement: mainstream non-segregated settings (regular schools and sharing time with oth er c ildren without disabilities), mainstream segregated settings (special classes in regular sch ools) and special schools. These contexts differ in teacher training, resources and contact with oth er c ildren in ways that allow a comparison of the relative influence of these variables on parent l perception. Overall parental satisfaction was high. However, parents in mainstream segregated set tings were less satisfied than those in special schools. There were no differences between the satisfaction of parents with children in mainstream segregated and non-segregated settings. Results seem to indicate that it is resources and teacher training, rather than severity of the d isor er, the classroom structure or fear of contact with other children without ASD, that deter mine positive parental perception. Inclusion and Parents of Children with Autism 3 Do Parents Prefer Special Schools for Their Childre n with Autism? Over the past decades there has been an increasing tendency to educate children with disabilities in mainstream settings, with a growing emphasis in many educational systems on the need for full inclusion (Mitchell, 2004). As major stakeholders and clients of these systems, it is important that parents’ opinions and views are take n into account in this process. Firstly, if it is to be successful, parents must support inclusion as a part of major educational reform (Grove & Fisher, 1999; Turnbull & Turnbull, 1997). In additi on, it has been found that there is a relationship between parental implication with incl usion and the academic performance of their children with disabilities (Palmer, Fuller, Arora, & Nelson, 2003). However, it is not clear that there actually is a f avorable attitude of parents of children with disabilities towards inclusion. Although a great ma jority of studies do show positive attitudes (Bailey, Hebbeler, Scarborough, Spiker, & Mallik, 2 004; Bennett, DeLuca, & Bruns, 1997; Leyser & Kirk, 2004; Lowenbraun, Madge & Affleck, 1 990; Miller, Strain, Boyd, Hunsicker, McKinley & Wu., 1992; Seery, Davis & Johnson, 2000; Turnbull, Tur nb ll, Shank, Smith, & Leal, 2002), this is not always the case (Fox & Yss eldyke, 1997; Green & Shinn, 1994; Kohler, 1999; Palmer et al., 2003). As well as differences in educational systems and actual educational provision, there are various factors that could be underlying these different results. It has been found that demographic variables play a certain rol e in parents’ attitudes towards inclusion (Leyser & Kirk, 2004; Stoiber, Gettinger, & Goetz, 1998), with more favorable views held by college graduates, small families and married paren ts, when compared to high school graduates, larger families and single parents, respectively. T he child’s age also influences the perception of inclusion, with responses from parents of older chi ldren usually more negative (Fox & Ysseldyke; Jenkinson, 1998; Leyser & Kirk; Spann, K ohler, & Soenksen, 2003). The present Inclusion and Parents of Children with Autism 4 status of the children’s educational placement seem to also contribute to parental attitude, although findings here are not consistent. Whereas J nkinson found that parents tended to favor their child’s present placement, i.e., parents of c hildren in special educational settings were less favorable to inclusion, Leyser and Kirk found the o pp site. Another relevant variable, also with unclear influence, is the severity of the child’s d i ability. Some researchers have pointed to parents of children with more severe disabilities a s the most favorable to inclusion (Turnbull et al.), but others have found that parents of childre n with greater difficulties may feel that the benefits of inclusion will not be applicable to the ir children (Jenkinson; Leyser & Kirk; Palmer et al.). Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are o ften considered to be among those children with more severe or specific disabilities. Their social, communication and behavioral difficulties pose particular challenges to the proc ess of inclusion (Simpson, Boer-Ott, & SmithMyles, 2003). Few studies have explored attitudes t owards inclusion specifically in this population. Most of the research has centered on pa rental satisfaction with educational provision (Kohler, 1999; Ruef, Turnbull, Turnbull, & Poston, 1999; Spann et al., 2003). Actual satisfaction with the educational provision in different educati onal settings can be related to attitudes towards inclusion, since it can provide insight into parent s’ reactions to different types of educational placement as they are actually implemented. Unfortu nately, not many of the studies with parents of children with ASD have considered differences in atisfaction in different types of educational placement, and therefore, the implications of their results for the process of inclusion are somewhat limited. One exception is a study by Kasari, Freeman, Baumin ger, and Alkin (1999), with 149 parents of children with Down Syndrome and 113 with ASD. They found that, whereas parents Inclusion and Parents of Children with Autism 5 of children with Down syndrome preferred full inclu sion, those of children with ASD generally favored part-time mainstreaming. Half of the respon dents in this group felt that their children’s specific needs could not be appropriately provided for in an inclusive program. At the same time, it was found that parents of children in special ed ucation programs were less satisfied than those in general education or early intervention. There w ere no differences between satisfaction of parents of children with Down Syndrome and ASD. The authors hypothesize that parents of children with ASD may be particularly preoccupied w ith the structure of the classroom, as opposed to parents of children with Down Syndrome, that are more worried about social role models for their children. Parents of children with ASD might also grant greater importance to specialized teacher training, which is to be found in special education settings, and be more worried about their difficulties in peer relations. However, it is difficult to determine which of these reasons is more likely to be influencing diff erences in attitude. One relevant limitation of the study is that it does not provide information a bout the severity of the children’s disabilities. In this study, it is difficult to determine if the parents view the disorder itself as a condition tha t renders children as specially unsuited for inclusio n, or if it is the severity of the children’s needs that is modulating their perception. The present study attempts to provide some addition al data on the perception of parents of children with ASD of different educational settings in order to understand factors influencing parental perception and potential limitations to th e process of inclusion. In the context of a broader study in the city of Seville (Spain), paren ts of children with ASD were asked to rate the educational provision they were receiving. Seville is the largest city in Southern Spain, and as such is the capital of the Autonomous Region of And alusia. It holds a population of Inclusion and Parents of Children with Autism 6 approximately 700,000 inhabitants, with 95,861 chil dren in Kindergarten, compulsory Primary and Secondary Education and Special Education. The structure of the educational provision for chil dren with ASD in Seville is useful for determining the role of educational placement in pa rental perception and satisfaction. The system includes special and mainstream schools. The first include only children with special needs. In our study, the children with ASD were in special ed ucational placements in which they only shared their time with other children with ASD. Tea ching is provided by special education teachers, specifically recruited for these posts on the bas is of a college degree in special education (although not specifically related to aut ism), that receive supplementary training in autism. In mainstream schools, children with disabi lities can be found in two different situations. Some of them spend all their time in a support clas sroom (segregated mainstream placement ). The contact of children in these units with the res t of the school is minimal, and in practice their educational placement is similar to a special schoo l for children with autism within a regular school. Their teachers are also special education t eachers, but they tend to lack the support of experts and training that those in special autism s chools enjoy. The remaining children in mainstream schools ( non-segregated mainstream placement ) spend a varying amount of time in the regular classroom with other children, and with teachers with and without degrees in special education. This distribution allows testing for the hypothesis that parents with ASD are preoccupied with the structure of the classroom its elf and potential difficulties with non-ASD peers, both of which are problems absent in segrega ted mainstream placement and special schools. These latter two contexts, however, are di ff rent in other respects. In special schools all teachers are special education teachers and resourc are usually more specific and greater than in segregated mainstream placement. On the other ha nd, segregated and non-segregated Inclusion and Parents of Children with