Prospect of Telecommunication in Bangladesh

Limitations of the Study

The findings of this study cannot be generalized to other School systems. It is limited to the state of Arizona particularly in the High School level.

Significance of the Study

The information gathered from this study will public school administrators, teachers, counselors, parents, and others in determining whether exposure to an inclusion program benefits the student academically, socially, and from a family standpoint. Secondly, the data gained as a result of this study will be made available to individuals and agencies for the purposes of evaluating and planning inclusion programs.

Literature Review

Several studies have shown that inclusion is a viable method of instruction for students with disabilities as well as for students without disabilities. Affleck, Madge, Adams, and Lowenbraun (1988) compared the performance of students without learning disabilities placed in integrated and mainstream education programs and reported no significant differences between the two groups, suggesting that normally achieving students are not adversely affected by being placed with students with LD. They concluded that the students in the integrated programs more often reduced inappropriate behaviors, increased communication skills, exhibited greater independence and engendered higher parental expectations.

As evident by these various studies, the concept of inclusion enhances the education of students with and without disabling conditions. It promises to streamline the educational system and better allocate its most important resource, teachers. Yet, many if not most, of the schools have a long way to go before all students can enjoy the full benefits of inclusion. Research by Autin (1992) clearly establishes that integrated models improve the academic and social performance of all students. It also shows that comprehensive inclusion presents the best alternative to segregated special education, or exclusion.

This system of exclusion finds its roots in the 1954 decision, Brown v. Board of Education, (Murphy, 1996) where a separate education was also considered unequal. The African American students were shortchanged; they were separated from the mainstream and were provided an inferior education that would prove harmful in their lives. That same concept, inequality, is paramount with regard to the inclusion movement. Students who are emotionally disturbed, physically challenged, visually impaired, and learning disabled are often excluded from the total school population. From the standpoint of legal history, the establishment of the basic concept that no child can be denied or excluded from a publicly supported education because of a handicap is expressed under the document Public Law (PL) 94-142, or the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA) which mandated appropriate education for all students with disabilities. Public Law 94-142 recognized and supported this need for the education of students with disabilities in regular classroom settings, by creating a presumption in favor of educating children with handicaps in regular education environments (Danielson & Bellamy, 1989, p. 448).

Students who are learning disabled may exhibit a wide range of traits, including poor reading comprehension, spoken language, writing and reasoning ability. Hyperactivity, inattention, and perceptual coordination problems may also be associated with LD, but are not examples of LD. Other traits that may be present include a variety of symptoms of brain dysfunction, including uneven and unpredictable test performance, perceptual impairments, motor disorders and emotional characteristics such as impulsiveness, low tolerance for frustration and maladjustment.

One possible cause for the failure of many programs serving youth with serious emotional disturbance to promote increased integration may be that little research has been undertaken to isolate specific variables that promote integration or increase the likelihood that children with serious emotional disturbance will be reintegrated (Schneider & Byrne, 1984). Of the studies investigating the decision to mainstream children with serious emotional disturbance, the focus has typically been on (a) the behavior or academic achievement of the student or (b) the characteristics of the regular education (mainstream) teacher (Carran, Rock, and Rosenberg, 1994).

Although the behavior of the child with serious emotional disturbance might logically be considered a major determinant in placement decisions, there is evidence to indicate that behavioral, social, interpersonal, and task-oriented skills are not being considered when reintegration decisions are made (Downing et al., 1990). Further, neither behavioral improvement nor academic achievement has been shown to differentiate students who were reintegrated from those who were not (Downing et al., 1990; Foley, Cullinan, & Epstein, 1990).

Methodology

This study will use the descriptive approach. This descriptive type of research will utilize interview, observation and questionnaires in the study. To illustrate the descriptive type of research, the researcher will be guided by Creswell (1994) when he stated: "Descriptive method of research is to gather information about the present existing condition. The purpose of employing this method is to describe the nature of a situation as it exists at the time of the study and to explore the cause/s of a particular phenomena.

The research described in this document is based solely on quantitative research methods. This permits a flexible and iterative approach. During data gathering the choice and design of methods are constantly modified, based on ongoing analysis. This allows investigation of important new issues and questions as they arise, and allows the investigators to drop unproductive areas of research from the original research plan.

This proposed study basically intends to investigate the effects of including ill and disabled students in public school classrooms in Tucson in terms of the academic achievements and development of the ill and disabled students and the regular students. This shall be compared to classrooms which do not have ill and disabled students. The effects of inclusion of ill and disabled students shall be monitored using two classrooms in Tucson whereas two classrooms in the same year level shall also be monitored using a public school which does not accept ill and disabled students. The academic performance of students shall also be based on the grades of the students.

In assessing the relationship of mainstreaming in public schools- the following variables shall be tested. The independent variable shall be the classrooms