普通班身心障礙學生學校支持服務模式之建構

Purposes

The objectives of this study were (i) to establish a model that describes and predicts the school support services provided to students with disabilities in general education classrooms, and (ii) to understand the school support services that such students receive and explore the background factors that might influence the provision of such services.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used the data from the Special Needs Education Longitudinal Study (SNELS), which collected data on sixth- and ninth- grade students with disabilities who had been placed in general education classrooms in the 2010 academic year. In total, 1454 students with disabilities were selected for the analyses.

Findings

First, human resources had the greatest influence on school support services in the model, and teaching accommodations had the second greatest. By contrast, teachers’ special education knowledge and competency in general education classrooms were no significant in the model. However, cooperation between teachers in general education classrooms and special education teachers was higher than that between itinerant teachers and therapists. The most commonly used teaching accommodations were classroom environment, homework content or completion time, and teaching strategies. The main support services were tuition waivers, scholarships and examination adjustments. Third, school location of students with disabilities had a significant effect on the level of help received from itinerant teachers, and collaboration with special education teachers. Fourth, disability category had a significant effect on most support services variables provided by the school.

Originality/value

This study used the SNELS database, which provided a large sample size, to establish a predictive model. The major findings were that human resources in special education had the greatest influence on school support services; the second most influential factor was teaching accommodations. By contrast, teachers’ special education knowledge and competency in general education classrooms did not have direct significant predictive roles in the model