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This in-depth study addressed the nature of general education teachers' planning for content area instruction for students with learning disabilities. Participants included 12 teachers, elementary through high school. Through interviews, classroom observations, teacher reflections, and surveys, we used the Flow of the Planning Process Model to investigate teachers' preplanning, interactive planning, and postplanning activities. Elementary general education teachers did more planning to include the needs of diverse students—and collaborated more with special education teachers—than did teachers at other levels. Other results indicated the extent of special help offered by teachers, as well as the pressures felt by teachers to cover the curriculum.

The purpose of this study was to investigate general education teachers' beliefs, skills, and practices in planning and making adaptations for students with learning disabilities (LD) mainstreamed into general education. Participating teachers were identified by administrators and peers as being effective in working with students with LD. Sixty teachers (20 elementary, 20 middle school, and 20 high school) completed a survey instrument assessing teachers' beliefs, skills, and practices. A subset of the initial cohort of teachers (n = 12) also participated in extensive interviews and classroom observations to provide additional insight into their adaptive instructional practices. Results indicated that even among skilled teachers gaps exist between beliefs, practices, and skills. Discussion focuses on teacher beliefs, skills, and practices and differences among teachers in the three grade groupings.

This investigation determined the perceptions of kindergarten teachers about the desirability and feasibility of practices identified to enhance outcomes for children with disabilities as they make the transition from their prekindergarten programs to kindergarten. Thirty-one kindergarten teachers participated by completing the 28-item, Likert-type (1 = low, 5 = high) Adaptations for Kindergarten Children with Disabilities questionnaire and responding to two open-ended questions. Applying the Wilcoxon signed ranks two-tailed test, it was shown that, with the exception of one item (maintain portfolios), there were statistically significant differences between teachers' views of the desirability of implementing each practice and the feasibility of implementation. Furthermore, the median scores for desirability of implementation were less than 5 for only two items, while most of the ratings for feasibility received median scores lower than 5. Responses to open-ended questions revealed that the majority of teachers did not perceive that they were adequately prepared to teach children with disabilities, yet most teachers indicated that they were somewhat confident that they could make instructional adaptations for children with special needs.