A Survey Study on Educational Placement for Children with Disabilities in Taiwan, R.O.C.

Author: Wu-Tien Wu(Department of Special Education, National Taiwan Normal University)

Abstract：

Aiming at school-age children (6-15 years of age) with disabili- ties, the present study intended to (1) explore the current status of their educational placement, (2) re-view the appropriateness of the current placement, and (3) search for the way of im-provement. The target population was school-age children with disabilities identified by the 2nd National Prevalence Survey Study (1990-92), which covered 11 categories of disabilites with a total number of 76,026. About 5% of the target population at grades 3-9 was smapled and two forms of survey questionnaire were administered to their home-class teachers and parents respectively. For those who failed to attend school, only their parents were surveyed. As a result, the available subjects consisted of 2,280 teachers (75% of the target sample), 2,028 parents of disabled children attending school (68% of the target sample), and 91 parents of disabled children absented from school (40% of the target sample). The data were analyzed in terms of frequency distribution, percentage, and the chi-square test. The major findings were as the following:
1. There was a general agreement to the accuracy of the identi- ficaiton of the 2nd Natinal Prevalence Survey Study.
2. According to the 2nd National Prevalence Survey Study, the vast majority (about 94%) of children with disabilities were placed in school settings, among them the majority (about 84%) were placed in regular classes with regular school attendance but without any special sendees.
3. Although the current practices of placement were generally accepted by teachers and parents, their appropriateness was questionned by many teachers (about 1/3) and parents (about 1/6).
4. The integrated placement with special services was viewed by most teachers and parents in particular as the optimal model. Consequently, in comparison with cur-rent situations, it was hoped that the itinerant teacher and/or resource room be implemented in stead of "the regular class without any special services"; the special class was hoped to be retained or changed into resource room and the special school to be retained or changed into the special class.
5. Regarding the conditions of inappropriate placement, teachers' view and parents' view were very similar; they were (1) a lack of suitable teaching materials, (2) a lack of interactin between regular children and children with disabilities, (3) being "mixed" only rather than being really integrated, (4) the shortage of qualified special education teachers and related professionals.
6. Most of the children who failed to attend school were mostly severely disabled. Two years later since they were screened, most of them had been educationally placed under the so called "home-bound self-teaching model." This model was widely criticized for its appro- priateness. Rather, parents' preference was special school or institution.
It was concluded that the optimal placement be oriented toward integration with special services, along with multiple resources and flexible adjustment.

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