Stability and change in parents' expectations about mainstreaming

Abstract

Families of children in mainstreamed environments have varying expectations associated with these integrated placements. Although previous studies have described some of these expectations in a retrospective fashion, no study has assessed expectations prior to the initiation of mainstreaming or documented the extent to which such expectations change during the course of a mainstreaming experience. This article describes the expectations of families of both handicapped and nonhandicapped children prior to the introduction of handicapped children into a day care center that had previously served only nonhandicapped youngsters. A follow-up assessment was conducted after 9 months of mainstreaming. Stability and change in parents' expectations are described and the implication of the findings for planning individualized family services are discussed.