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When the education for all handicapped children act of 1975 (PL 94 - 142) mandated services for children with disabilities and the special law for individuals with disabi- lities education act (IDEA) of 1990 (PL 101 - 476) enac- ted that children with disabilities have to be educated with children with no disabilities and join regular schools groups involved in the teaching process started to look at the effectiveness of inclusion and question how inclusion benefits children with disabilities. 
This movement to include students with disabilities in general education classrooms and schools has gained support from educators, researchers and parents (Gartner and Lipsky, 1987; Stainback and Stainback, 1992, 1996; Ismail, 2004). It became an interesting event for the researcher to explore the attitudes of one group of the various groups involved in the teaching process, the parents towards the inclusion of their children in regular Lebanese schools. Sidon-Lebanon since inclusion is still in its very early stages in Lebanon with absence of a mandated legislation to the notion of inclusion except for an initiative by a small number of private Lebanese 
schools and non-governmental organizations (Ismail, 2004). It raised issues about parents’ attitudes concern- ing various aspects of inclusion, types of inclusion and types of special needs to be included believing that the more positive the attitudes of different groups, the more they would be willing to accept the implementation of inclusion in the educational settings. 
This concept of including children with disabilities in regular education environments has been identified using many labeled mainstreaming, integration and most cur- rently, inclusion. Inclusion advocates do not see inclusion and mainstreaming as the same thing. They see it as “Inclusion implies that the student has a right to be in the general education classroom and that the classroom should be modified and made ready for the student” (Fiorello, 2001). In this study, the studied schools embo- dy the definition of inclusion as detailed by Fiorello. 
This paper presents a case study of 2 regular private elementary schools in Sidon city, Lebanon that offer inclusion of children with special needs. It explores how 15 parents of special educational needs children reflect 
their opinion about the importance of inclusive education in improving academic functioning and social develop- ment behavior of their children. It thereby raises issues about effectiveness, applicability, readiness and accep- tance by parents of inclusion (Lipsky and Gartner, 1996a; Mather and Roberts, 1995; Antonak and Larrivee, 1995). 
The purpose of this study was to survey the attitudes of parents towards inclusion of students with special needs in regular schools. The study addresses the following questions; what is the attitude of parents towards various aspects of inclusion? Cooperation, teaching methods, inclusion legislation, social adaptation and academic improvement of included students? What is the attitude of parents towards the types of inclusion and types of special needs to be included? 
The researcher anticipates the results will provide help- ful information about the type of inclusion preferred by parents and their attitude towards various aspects of inclusion. 
LITERATURE REVIEW 
Several major initiatives have been taken internationally to support inclusive education. The UNESCO Salamanca statement (1994) calls on the international community to endorse the approach of inclusive schools by imple- menting practical and strategical changes. The UN Con- vention on the rights of the child contains several articles which taken together, provides the right to inclusive edu- cation. These initiatives have lead to a considerable growth in the literature on integration and inclusive education (Jenkinson, 1997). In general, it has developed in 3 main directions, understanding the practice of inclu- sion as it related to different disabilities and difficulties, understanding the factors which help build inclusive schools which can respond to diverse needs and com- paring the efficiency of separate special education and inclusive education (Jenkinson, 1997). 
CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH 
Cross-cultural studies on legislation showed that Great Britain has produced a document of major significance of special education in England, Scotland and Wales (Karagians and Nesebit, 1981). This document is the Warnock Report, published in 1978, and in November 1998 the labour government published a programme of action for greater inclusion of disabled children in main- streamed schools (DFEE, 1998). The report shares some features with P. L. 94-142 of the United States, such as the principle of mainstreaming, extending the scope of special education to include other services, such as early identification and intervention. In Canada, the amended Schools Act (1987) calls for the placement of all students in the regular class unless such a placement proves detrimental to the needs of the child or other children (CSIE, 2000). 
Cross- cultural research has been extended to encom- pass the Arab world. In collaboration with UNESCO, some of the Arab countries, namely Jordan, Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates signed an agreement in 1991 to adopt the basic principles of special education for children with special needs. It was meant to recapitulate what was more of baby step towards special education in the 1960 and 1970. The Arab states started developing programs in 1991, (Yaccoub, 2000) which included methods to ensure the training of educators, making them well equipped in the field of special education. 
EFFICIENCY OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION 
In studying the efficiency of inclusive education, research found that students with disabilities in inclusive settings have shown improvement in standardized tests, acquired social and communication skills previously undeveloped, shown increased interaction with peers, achieved more and higher-quality IEP goals and are better prepared for post-school experiences (Cooper and McEvoy, 1996; Odom and Brown, 1993; Guralink et al., 1995; Idol, 2006). 
There is also evidence that inclusive settings can expand a student's personal interests and knowledge of the world which is excellent preparation for adulthood (Harry, 1992). The positive effects of inclusive education on classmates without disabilities have been well docu- mented (Power-deFur and Orelove, 1998). Both research and anecdotal data have shown that typical learners have demonstrated a greater acceptance and valuing of indivi- dual differences, enhanced self-esteem, a genuine capa- city for friendship and the acquisition of new skills. Low achieving students also benefited from the review, prac- tice, clarity and feedback provided to students with disabilities (Power-deFur and Orelove, 1998; Manset and Semmel, 1997). 
P ARENTS’ ATTITUDES TOW ARDS INCLUSION 
Research has shown that parent’s attitudes affect the success of inclusion and their attitudes have been shown to be more favorable when allowed input into the decision making process (Lewis, Chard and Scott, 1994). Cross- cultural studies on parental involvement show that in European countries such as Britain parents are formally involved in decisions such as policy making. Danish schools have a school board elected by parents. The board functions not only in an advisory capacity but approves weekly timetables and instructional materials (Bruce, 1989). In addition, parental involvement played an important role in changing the educational policies set for special needs children. In Spain, parents are targeted to get involved in the normalization project that was started in October 1991 (Marchesi, 1994). 
Further, research has found that parents’ attitudes differed when the inclusion of their own children is in question. Parents are typically quite supportive of includ- ing more students with disabilities back into general education for instructional purposes (Green and Shinn, 1994). For example, Mylnek et al. (1982) found that pa- rents endorsed positive general statements about includ- ing students from pullout programs to general education classroom (Green and Shinn, 1995). Similarly, Abramson et al. (1982) found that 72% of their sample agreed that educating handicapped and non-handicapped children together would improve the academic ability of the for- mer. However, parents were more reluctant to include their own child into the regular classroom (Green and Shinn, 1995). Only 14% believed their own child’s acade- mic performance would improve in such circumstances (Green and Shinn, 1995). Vague understanding of the purpose and the benefits of the inclusion of exceptional children on the part of the parents can be a main reason for holding negative attitudes towards inclusion (Green and Shinn, 1995). Nevertheless, some evidence sug- gests that parental attitudes towards inclusion can be positively enhanced if adequate information about the benefits of inclusion is given (Green and Shinn, 1995). Furthermore, Yesseldyke et al. (1994) found that parents of students with disabilities seek an educational system that meets their child’s educational needs, where there is frequent communication with parents, where their child receives adequate attention, where their child can attend school with siblings and friends. 
Generally speaking families of children with and without disabilities enrolled in inclusion settings have positive attitudes toward inclusion (Guralink, 1994; Peck et al., 1992). They often report as a benefit the increased social contact between children with and without disabilities (Peck et al., 1992) and children's increased sensitivity and acceptance of differences. When they express con- cerns, families focus more on teacher qualifications, ade- quacy of instruction and fears of social rejection for the children with disabilities (Bang and Lamb, 1996). 
SPECIAL EDUCATION IN LEBANON 
The lack of documented information about the field of special education in Lebanon obliged the researcher to rely on observation to describe the existing reality of spe- cial education practices in Lebanon. In fact, the educa- tional private sector is the main provider of educational services for students with special needs (Ismail, 2004). Some private schools started building their own special unit to teach students with special needs. Some other schools use resource room as a main context for helping students with difficulties in learning. In other contexts, many private schools host children with special needs, referred from one of many non-governmental organiza- tions. 
Although the Lebanese educational hierarchy has been modified to meet with recent trends including technology, 
the section that has to do with exceptional students remains isolated and neglected. Policy makers have kept the educational titles “regular” and “special” independent of each other (New hierarchy for education in Lebanon, 1995). Arab countries like Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Libya and the Uni- ted Arab Emirates have already taken the appropriate measures to restructure their educational hierarchy to combine the two educational systems into one by adopt- ing the UNESCO project, Education for All (Yacoub, 1994). Therefore, Lebanon in comparison to other Arab states is not as developed in adopting the principles of special education. 
Dirani along with a team of special educators and social workers from Saint Joseph’s university human sciences division took the initiative and conducted simultaneously a research study and a field application of mainstreaming in a two steps experiment. Dirani (1996) offered the results of research to advocate the benefits of inclusion for children with special needs. The following sections under the heading of special education in Leba- non are the summary of almost ten years of research and practice. 
ACADEMIC INTEGRATION OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS 
With the social awakening concerning children with special needs, the academic integration of these children into regular schools became essential both for the person with a need and as a solution to a problematic situation. Children with mental, physical, sensory or chronic defects were included in regular schools where their psycho- logical state and social skills would be improved. It was the parents of the children with special needs who first knocked at the doors of schools and demanded a proper education for their children. In association with SesoBel (a non-profiting organization for handicapped children) and in collaboration with schools in the areas of Metn, Beirut and Kesrouan, an individual academic inclusion initiative of children with special needs started in 1982. Within the periods of 1982 and July 1991, 77 children were integrated, 23 children were mentally retarded, 5 had sensory defects, 34 had chronic maladies, 6 had physical handicaps and 9 children had cerebral palsy. This was a pilot study for further research that could pave the way for more constructive strategies to be adopted in the interest of including children with special needs (Dirani, 1993). 
In September (1991), the academic integration of spe- cial needs children program was merged into a central program of the SesoBel. Between 1991 and 1992, 45 children followed the special needs’ program and there were 39 children in 19 schools and 6 children in 6 kinder- gartens. The schools were in the regions of Beirut, Kesrouan, Jbeil, Metn and the North (Dirani, 1996). In 1992 and 1993, there were 97 children in 61 schools, 54 
54 belonged to the private sector and 7 belonged to the public sector. There was collaboration between parents, teachers and schools which contributed to the success of the program even if it was only on a small scale (Dirani, 1996). 
As one of the rare attempts of a full integration trial, Dirani in collaboration with the SesoBel and College de la Sagesse Brazilia attempted a 3 years integration project which started in 1993 but was completely terminated in June 1995. The project was terminated because of several disagreements that hindered its progress during the 3 years period of its implementation. 
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 
The case study method was used as a principal research instru- ment for the following reasons; the two elementary schools in Sidon city adopted the policy of inclusion, the principals of these 2 schools work to align inclusive education practices with school-wide reform efforts. In this context, only the case study method could provide the means for qualitative data-gathering. 
A direct examination of parental attitude could accurately reflect their natural outlook about the types of inclusion preferred. Because the disability that children included in these 2 schools differ, this data would be significant in terms of parental attitude and thus the most effective instrument for expressing this attitude was the case study. 
This study followed the recommendation of Yin (1994) and has 4 stages; (a) Design the case study, (b) Conduct the case study, (c) Analyze the case study evidence and (d) Develop the conclusions, recommendation and implications. 
In the design of the study, the researcher used standard tech- niques for posing research questions and defining the unit analysis. Because the study focuses on exploratory and description, empha- sis was placed on the purpose and aims of the study and not on formulating propositions. Moreover, the rational for undertaking the study and substantial review and critique of the literature provided support the understanding of parents’ attitudes towards inclusion. 
Data collection and analysis 
The data collection and analysis occurred consecutively. The re- search questions guiding the case study ask about the attitude and type of inclusion. The researcher's actions included recording, syn- thesizing and clarifying meanings and understandings. A set of interview questions were created prior to the first interviews. These were used as a script for moving the interview closer to eliciting various aspects of inclusion and types of inclusion and special needs to be included from participants in each succeeding inter- view. The questions were broad and loosely structured. The techni- ques used were suggested by Strauss (1987). Journals and logs were kept to tack methodological, observational and notes during data collection. 
Next the interview questions were accompanied by a list of pos- sible sources of data. A list of potential sources was made. This included the participants, their children and the type of disability, the psychologist that the parents contact and information about the principals of the school concerning the way used in inclusion. These 2 elementary schools, given a letter A and B are comprised of 1250 students (350 in school A and 900 in school B). These 2 schools have 35 exceptional learners (11 in A and 24 in B) with ages between 4 and 13 and with varying forms of disabilities (12 ADHD, 2 epileptic, 5 Down's syndrome, 4 on wheel chair, 3 partial deafness, 3 emotional disturbances, 3 language difficulties and 3 
dyslexic).
The researcher sent a letter to the parents of the disabled child- 
ren through the school asking them whether they would like to participate in the research. 15 parents out of 35 (6 from A and 9 from B) responded positively and were interviewed. The interviewed parents were assured that the information collected is for research project only, that it will be kept confidential and that their identity will remain anonymous. The majority of the participants are referred a number given to them. According to Cohen and Manion (1994), preserving confidence means, "Although researchers know who has provided the information or are able to identify participant from the information given, they will in no way make the connection known publicly". 
Finally the literature was revisited between interviews to gain a better understanding of new data. Clear conceptualizations assisted in taking definitions into the study and combined with other sources of data comprising the mass of data available to study the phe- nomenon of interest. Thinking in metaphors and creating simplistic models and thematic maps were essential activities in data ma- nagement. 
FINDINGS 
Based on the responses from the interview questions, the findings can be grouped into the following categories; (a) attitudes towards inclusion, (b) attitudes towards types of inclusion and special needs to be included. 
Attitudes towards inclusion 
Answers related to the key question (1) concerning atti- tudes of parents towards inclusion reflect that the respon- dents showed a positive attitude towards the various aspects of inclusion. Percents ranged between 93 as highest towards cooperation between teachers and 87 as social adaptation. This message stands out in one of the parents’ response; 
“The pupils must have equal opportunities to face chal-lenges and acquire skills and knowledge. They have to be given equal opportunities to draw their own expe-riences in the learning environment” (No. 2, October 15, 2008). 
Other parents see inclusion in the form of full inclusion in all forms of education with equal rights. 
“There should be a policy that says children with special needs must participate equally in the social, academic and cultural community. They must go to general schools and get their education within the ordinary class.” (No. 8, October 8, 2008). 
Another parent stated that, 
“The term inclusion or inclusive education cannot be loca-ted in our educational curriculum but when a term like provision for least restrictive environment is mentioned, this term then provides the legal impetus for inclusive education.” (No. 3, October 6, 2008) (Table 1). 
Themes 
Cooperation between teachers: 
Teachers have to cooperate with special education teacher. Prepare teachers to accept individual differences
Train teachers on communication skills
Legislation: 
There should be a policy for inclusion
Government should enact a law
Principals of schools should go ahead to apply inclusion Exceptional child should go to general schools
Teaching Method:
Provision of information in varied ways
Change the traditional way of teaching
Space information presentation
Social adaptation and academic improvement: Behavioral change towards exceptional children Readiness to help exceptional children
Sociable behavior seen in my child
Development of reading abilities in our exceptional children Performance in our exceptional children was enhanced 
This indicates that respondents accept the global con- cept of inclusion. Such an observed positive attitude seems promising and implies that implementing the prin- ciple of inclusion in Lebanon is feasible. 
Attitudes towards types of inclusion and special needs to be included 
When the interviewees were asked about the types of inclusion, 11 out of 15 respondents showed a positive attitude towards different forms of inclusion starting with inclusion should be in a resource room and ending with inclusion should be in academic and vocational schools and institutions. 
Part of the response from some parents concerning forms of inclusion was reflected in the manner that; 
“Specialized instruction should be available to any child who might want or need it. Nevertheless, it should never be based on a label attached to a child. Schools that embrace the belief that learning occurs in many forms in many different places have no trouble designing ways to cater for the needs of individual students” (No. 13, Octo- ber 5, 2008). 
Seven of the interviewed parents reflected the idea that some children need regular, intensive individualized instruction to acquire specific skills and the best situation is to join a resource room par. 
“If the diverse needs of children with disabilities have to be met we have to take them out of a general education classroom, and into a resource room for specific skill or functional life skill instruction.” 
Other reactions were reflected in the form that learning- disabled children have to be moved to vocational schools and institutions that offer specific skills that suit the type of disablements; 
“General schools cannot offer all forms of skills needed in the Lebanese program, yet vocational schools are expected to offer focused and intensive instruction as needed. This instruction can occur in such schools in any location in the school that makes sense for the task Nos. 9, 4, 11, 2, and 10, November 8, 9, 14, 5 and 15, 2008) (Table 2). 
Regarding the academic level at which inclusion should be implemented; results showed that the respondents indicated no single academic level. 12 of the respondents believed that the inclusion of students with special needs should be in all levels, that is, nursery, elementary and intermediate. ”When 5 of the responding parents were asked about the academic level of inclusion, argued that: 
“Students with intensive challenge can be part of the educational curriculum regardless of the acade- mic level. This can happen if the curriculum is orga- nized in broad and balanced areas of knowledge and skill rather than subject areas” (No. 9, 4, 11, 2, and 10, November 8, 9, 14, 5 and 15, 2008). 
Four of the responses were on the side towards inclusion at all levels except secondary; 
“Students may not learn enough the different courses the curriculum presents due to the different skills that are asked by the student. Consequently, students with learning disabilities might be preven- ted from experiencing the complexity and richness 
of information during instruction, and thus inclusion in such level is not suitable”. 
One of the eight who advocate inclusion asserts that; 
“In segregating schooling and deciding on one level only and not all levels, this situation will lead the learning disabled to a lifestyle that remains segre- gated from the community at large” (No. 13, October 5, 2008). 
Concerning the types of special needs to be included, the results showed that more than 11 of respondents reflec- ted a positive attitude when the special needs considered of mild mental retardation and motor handicaps. 
When asking the question about whether all special needs children can be included in general schools, 7 of the respondents argued (the disabilities that the children of these respondents have are 3 ADHD, 3 physically handicapped and 1 mild retardation. 
“Placement in a general education classroom will not be appropriate for some children. Students who are deaf or hard to hearing differ significantly from stu- dents with physical, mental, learning and emotional changes. In addition, our teachers are not specia- lized to interact with these children and this means that they have to be present in other specialized schools” (No. 5, October 18, 2008). 
DISCUSSION 
The prevalence of inclusion in the field of education in recent years was the major incentive behind the present study. Knowledge about attitudes of parties involved in the teaching/learning process namely parents towards inclusion of children with special needs into regular schools is a mandatory step in the 21st century. Yet, 2 limitations to the present study pose problems regarding generalization to other parent populations. The first is the relatively small number of interviewed parents (15) par- ticipating in this study. The second limitation is that the subjects were not chosen randomly and therefore caution should be taken in generalizing from the results to other contexts. Further work is needed to examine the gene- ralizability of these findings and to test their validity by using different groups of participants like teachers and principals in the same schools and in other schools. 
Results of the present study concerning key question (1) that deals with parents’ attitude towards various aspects of inclusion showed a positive attitude towards the various aspects of inclusion. For example, regarding legislation, although literature tackled the legislation aspect of inclusion in the west and even in the middle east. Studies revealed that people are hesitant and show- ed reluctance towards acceptance of a law that supports inclusion (Rock, et al., 1994; Dyson and Millward, 2000), yet respondents in the present study showed an opposite pattern and responded positively towards the aspect of legislation. 
When looking at the aspect of academic improvement, 13 of the respondents in the present study showed a positive attitude towards social and academic improve- ment because of inclusion. This seems to be congruent with findings on inclusion research in the west that deals with the above mentioned attribute. Such research sug- gested that both normally developing children as well as students with special need benefit equally in inclusion settings (Salisbury et al., 1995; Ainscow, 1998). The posi- tive attitude as revealed shows that the respondents per- ceive inclusion as associated with social and academic benefits. Therefore, such a perception might imply that respondents are in favor of inclusion and accept it as a practice in the regular school. 
Again the positive attitude of cooperation with teachers coincide with research where cooperative teaching can be defined as an educational approach in which general and special educators work in co-active and coordinated fashion to jointly teach heterogeneous groups of students in educationally integrated settings (Ripley, 1997). Such a positive perception by the respondents might be related to many factors. They believe that teachers lack the knowledge in the field of special education and hence need professional support. They also point to insufficient opportunities for in-service training. Still parents argued that the presence of cooperation between teachers and professionals will help in the academic and social deve- lopment of their children. Such things concur with Fritz et al, (1995). As for key question (2) that deals with types of inclusion to be implemented most of the respondents (13 out of 15 interviewed) called for the inclusion in a re- source room. This might be because the 2 schools in this study implement general class placement with resource room assistance where the resource teacher often pro- vides direct instruction to special education students in a separate place. Hence parents are more familiar with it and know its conditions. Therefore, they have the tendency to accept what they know.

Results moreover showed that most of the parents have positive attitudes towards inclusion aspects and types as well as types of special needs to be included. Parents favored to include students with motor handicaps and mild mental retardation. Although, research con- ducted in the west such as that done by Green and Shinn (1995), showed that parents are for inclusion of children with special needs, still it did not indicate which type of special needs parents would favor to be included. The present preference of parents might be the result of their assumption that motor disability would be easier to be handled as it would not have an effect on the students’ cognitive ability and on learning (Green and Shin, 1995). 
In terms of acceptance of children with special needs in the different grade levels, results showed that respon- dents did not reflect a positive attitude. It seems from these results that inclusion is still theoretically accepted but when it comes to a direct down to earth implement- tation, a lack of readiness is obvious. This concurs with Green and Shinn (1995) where the vague understanding of the purpose and benefits of inclusion from the side of the parents can be a main reason for the negative atti- tude. Still, although around 9 of the respondents favored all of pre-secondary levels to include students, the others chose lower grades as best for inclusion. According to the respondents, the age of the students seems to influence the attitudes of respondents towards their willingness to accept certain types of special needs to be included and toward grade level they should be enrolled in. In lower grades, the major concern is more in the pro- cess of socialization of the students which might explain the respondent’s preference of inclusion in those grade levels. Whereas, higher grade levels are more pressured by the academic requirements of the official exams, thus, inclusion might interfere with the process of teaching and learning. Hence, the general attitude seems to reflect a concern towards providing equal socializing opportunities to students with special needs as well as to their peers. This seems to be congruent with findings on inclusion in Yaccoub (1994) and Ismail (2004) when they tried to ana- lyze the most important level to integrate children with learning disabilities. They noted that expectations of full integration opposed the quest for academic excellence in upper classes, especially with students of severe disabi- lity. 
Conclusion 
Findings of the present study indicated that there is a positive attitude towards inclusion by the parents of child- ren in the 2 schools. Their attitudes towards inclusion legislation, academic improvement and social adaptation as well as cooperation reveal that the parents see pro- viding their children with inclusive education is equivalent to providing high quality education for all. The time has come for schools to communicate on a national level and to alter the educational system.
In general, respondents showed a positive attitude towards the aspects of inclusion namely academic improvement, social adaptation and cooperation between teachers. As for the type of inclusion, respondents show- ed a positive attitude toward the resource room as a type of inclusion. Mild mental retardation and motor handicaps are the 2 types of special needs to be included. In terms of acceptance of children with special needs in the diffe- rent grade levels, respondents reflect a positive attitude towards inclusion in all grade levels with some caution in upper level classes. 
The outcome of the study presents certain guidelines regarding the future development of inclusion. The findings supported the importance of the parent's attitude for the success of inclusion programs. Moreover the stu- dy highlighted meaningful lessons for the people involved in inclusive education regarding various aspects of inclu- sion and types of inclusion. In doing so, the study consti- tutes a source of data for other parties in Lebanon who are interested in inclusion in regular schools. The time has come for school leaders to modify the educational system to become more inclusive. 
Since this study was a preliminary one investigating parents' opinion regarding inclusion students with special needs in general schools, the data generated from the 15 interviews cannot yield generalization about the attitude towards inclusion. There might be other different attitudes that might be revealed when other groups are studied, like teachers and administrators. This may indicate that a more extensive research in attitude towards inclusion is appropriate.