The perceptions of Taiwanese parents to their young children with disabilities.

Abstract

To family results, the study indicated that Taiwanese parents generally held positive perception toward their children disabilities and a high percentage of parents held positive perceptions toward integration. However, parents in this present study generally perceived that existing early childhood special education services were inadequate in Taiwan. In addition, regarding availability of sources of family support, Taiwanese parents generally perceived that sources of family support were rated to be either sometimes helpful or generally helpful in Taiwan, and "school teachers" was rated as very helpful. Finally, 5 open-ended questions were found to be consistent with the parents' responses on the other parts of the questionnaire. These parents expressed considerable ambivalent perceptions toward integration of their children with disabilities. Parents' concerns regarding integration included rejection of their children by children without disabilities and their families, teachers' reactions and commitment, program quality, and personnel quality. Parents perceived that most services were not available or were inadequate. The most inadequate services were recreational places, transportation for the children to school, and someone to help children and their families deal with emotional problems.

To program results, early childhood personnel in present study indicated that they had more children with developmental delays in their school settings, which was followed in descending order by children with multiple disabilities, children with physical impairments, children with visual impairments, and young children with hearing impairments. Regarding special services provided to young children and their families, information regarding special education or related services was the most common service provided by program personnel. In addition, all program personnel stated that all children in their programs had their own special, or individual, education goal or written program plans. They all invited parents to participate in their children's IEP/IFSP meetings.

An understanding of parent perceptions regarding their children and the services they receive is important for the development and enhancement of special services for children with disabilities. Parental perceptions toward their children with disabilities must be considered when appraising the parents' opinions and support. Thus, the present study was conducted to address the following questions: (a) what perceptions do Taiwanese parents hold about their young children with disabilities; (b) what perceptions do Taiwanese parents hold about the adequacy of existing family-centered early childhood special education and related services; (c) what available sources of family support exist and to what extent have different sources of support been helpful to Taiwanese parents rearing young children; and (d) what perceptions do early childhood personnel in Taiwan hold about existing family-focused early childhood special education and related services. Two forms of questionnaires were developed and administrated to 8 early childhood educational agencies and 281 parents with young children with disabilities.