Using an ecological systems conceptual framework proposed by Bronfenbrenner, research on the inclusion of preschool children with disabilities in programs with typically developing children was reviewed. Drawing mainly from studies conducted in the United States, research on child characteristics (biosystem), classroom practices (microsystem), family perspectives (mesosystem), social policy (exosystem), culture (macrosystem), and changes in variables across time (chronosystem) is described. Positive developmental and behavioral outcomes occur for children with and without disabilities in inclusive settings, although as a group, children with disabilities are not as socially integrated as their typically developing peers. Parent attitudes are generally positive although they voice some concerns about inclusion. Several social policy issues within the U.S. system (e.g., enforcement of standards, fiscal issues) serve as barriers to and facilitators of implementation of preschool inclusion, and cultural variables shape the nature of inclusive classrooms as well as family access to inclusive settings.

This literature review focuses on the stresses families experience and the support factors needed to help them cope with their handicapped children. Stress often appears to increase with the age of the handicapped child, and it is also based on the daily care-giving demands of the child. Other general factors affecting stress are low family income, divorce, separation, and so forth. The father often plays a limited role in these families even when present. Both formal and informal social support networks are important to these families, often more so than professional support, which has been uneven. Families need to be treated as having individual needs that require individual solutions, even as their handicapped children. Investigators and practitioners are encouraged to continue their focus on the family as a legitimate unit of study and treatment.

Important changes in services occur for children with disabilities at age 3. A qualitative crosssite approach was used to investigate the experiences of families of these children and their service providers as they made the transition from Part C to Part B programs. Issues investigated were families' and professionals' experiences and expectations for the transition process, and the process of decision-making related to service selection. A sample of 22 families was followed as they entered, participated in, and exited the transition process. Results indicated that families and professionals experienced this transition as an event, not as a process. The shift in service delivery models from infant-toddler services to preschool services was often problematic, and information exchange and communication was crucial to family involvement and decision making. In general, families were given limited choices with respect to preschool programs; Only few programs offered inclusive service models. Families' and professionals' strategies facilitating the transition are reported.The school conference room is filled with people: the school district preschool coordinator, Katie's service coordinator, a preschool teacher, an infant-toddler early intervention teacher, a physical therapist, a vision specialist, a speech-language pathologist, and Katie's mother. Katie's mother sits down and puts a large photo of Katie on the table. The district official explains the purpose of the meetingto review Katie's development and goals, and to discuss and plan for her needs in preschool. The professionals each begin to describe their

A complex array of factors influences the implementation of inclusion within educational systems. This article examines decision making regarding young children's participation in inclusive programs. A qualitative design was employed to study influential factors over the course of a 5-year period as children moved from inclusive preschool placements to elementary school. Family, classroom, school, and societal influences were examined through families' perspectives on children's school experiences. At the end of the 5-year follow-along period, 60% of the children remained in some level of inclusive placement. Placements were influenced by professionals' decisions and school options, families' abilities to access information, advocates, the match between family needs and expectations and school options, and the influence of specific child and family characteristics. Downloaded fromI t's really imperative to me that he's in a regular classroom because he learns so much that you're not aware of him learning . . . I don't want to shortchange him. (Mother of Lester, a kindergartner diagnosed with autism) I think we have to try [inclusion]. If it doesn't work . . . then we can always make a change. (Mother of Ella, a first grader with Down syndrome) If he were in a regular classroom, he wouldn't get as much attention as he does now. (Mother of Lenny, a second grader with physical disabilities)These quotations from parents hint at the many factors that influence educational placement decisions for children with disabilities in the early school years. Though the provision of educational services in least restrictive or inclusive environments has been a central goal in recent decades, the decision to place a child in an inclusive or self-contained special education program is seldom a clear cut decision. Rather, these decisions reflect a complex transactional process involving multiple factors that often interact and may change over time. Educational placements and the goals and decisions surrounding placements, thus, are not static phenomena.Inclusion in the early years has been the target of many educational initiatives (Buysse, Inclusion is a complex process influenced by many factors within families, classrooms, communities, and society. An individual child's experience both affects and is affected by her or his family beliefs and values, aspects of the classroom (e.g., curricular activities, teacher's philosophy) and school (e.g., services offered, philosophy), as well as the policies and values espoused in the larger community.Children's placement decisions are rarely made on the basis of a single factor. The nature of decision making with respect to inclusion highlights the complexity of these decisions. Often professionals and parents must weigh a variety of factors in this process. Bailey, McWilliam, Buysse, and Wesley (1998) identified potentially competing factors families must weigh as they consider various educational alternatives; these factors included program quality, availability of specialized services t...

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