Stability and Change in Parents' Expectations about Mainstreaming

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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.