Joyce A. Brandes

Predicting Community Opposition to Inclusion in Schools: The Role of Social Dominance, Contact, Intergroup Anxiety, and Economic Conservatism

ABSTRACT This study addresses community members’ attitudes toward inclusion, the practice of including students with disabilities in regular education classroom settings. Participants in Study 1 were 271 community adults, completing measures of prior contact with people with disabilities, social dominance orientation (SDO), economic conservatism, intergroup anxiety, prejudice, and opposition to inclusion. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that amount of intergroup anxiety predicted opposition to inclusion via the mediator, prejudice toward people with disabilities, and that amount of prior contact indirectly predicted prejudice toward people with disabilities through intergroup anxiety. SDO positively predicted both intergroup anxiety and prejudice in the model, with prejudice also mediating between SDO and opposition to inclusion. Both SDO and economic conservatism failed to exhibit direct predictive relationships with opposition to inclusion. Participants in Study 2 were 161 community adults. Contact was shown to exert an indirect effect on prejudice via intergroup anxiety, whereas intergroup anxiety impacted inclusive attitudes via prejudice. SDO exerted both direct and indirect (via prejudice) effects on opposition to inclusion.

From Early Intervention to Early Childhood Programs Timeline for Early Successful Transitions (TEST)

More than one million transitions between early intervention services and early childhood programs are facilitated annually for youngsters with special needs. To be successful, these transitions require planning and ongoing communication between all parties. This article substantiates the need for a timeline/checklist and provides a model of sequential steps from onset to completion of the transition process. The Timeline for Early Successful Transition (TEST) facilitates an effective and well-planned transition that supports the child, family, and service personnel.

Student and Parent IEP Collaboration: A Comparison across School Settings:

The purpose of this study was to determine if differences existed across rural, urban, and suburban environments when special education teachers reported perceived levels of student and parent involvement and participation during IEP meetings. The investigators surveyed special education teachers (N = 159) across a Southwest state and applied log linear analyses to show possible differences in groups. Special education teachers in rural environments reported significantly higher rates of parent and student involvement and participation in IEP meetings than their counterparts in urban and suburban environments. Results are discussed and suggestions and implications for practitioners are provided.

Development of the Indicators of Successful Inclusion Scale (ISIS): Addressing Ecological Concerns.

The Indicators of Successful Inclusion Scale (ISIS) was developed to measure pre-service and practicing educators’ beliefs regarding factors that contribute to educating students with disabilities in general education classrooms. The measure was designed to assess teachers’ beliefs and attitudes related to inclusive education and to consider their possible utility for understanding teachers’ inclusion-related intentions and behaviors. Specifically, the ISIS targets personal and ecological factors thought to influence intentional inclusive practice: beliefs related to the perceived benefits of inclusion, beliefs regarding administrative school support for the practice of inclusion. ISIS scale development, and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses yielded discrete subscales addressing teachers’ ecological beliefs. Analyses of internal consistency and test-retest reliability data suggest the ISIS functions in a reliable fashion. Our construct validation procedures yielded evidence supporting the ISIS as a measure of pre-service and practicing teacher beliefs pertaining to inclusive education. Implications for the use of ISIS toward encouraging inclusive practices and enhancing a culture of inclusion are discussed.

Differentiating Between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Voters Using Facets of Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Social-Dominance Orientation: A Brief Report

Historically, much of the research on right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation has proceeded from the assumption that they are unidimensional. Recently, researchers have begun to seriously consider the possibility that they are multidimensional in nature and should be measured as such. Several studies have examined the unique relationships between right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation facets and social and political outcome measures of interest. However, there have been no efforts to include the full slate of right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation facets as predictors in the same model. This is problematic when investigating the discriminant validity of these facets, given the potential empirical overlap among the facets both within and across scales. We included facets of right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation as predictors of U.S. voters’ intentions to vote for Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump in the 2016 Presidential Election. Data were collected in September 2016. We found evidence for the discriminant validity of several of the right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation facets.

Interpersonal and relational orientation among pre-service educators: differential effects on attitudes toward inclusion of students with disabilities

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the extent to which pre-service educators’ interpersonal characteristics affected their attitudes toward teaching students with disabilities (inclusion), as measured by the FIRO-B and ATIES pre- and post-course. The FIRO-B was administered to assess expressed and wanted aspects of three interpersonal needs: personal inclusion, affection and control. The ATIES was administered to measure attitudes toward classroom inclusion of students with physical, academic, behavioral and social disabilities. Repeated measures ANOVAs revealed a main effect for wanted inclusion and an interaction effect for expressed inclusion and expressed affection on attitudes toward classroom inclusion. Ultimately, these findings reveal how unique relational characteristics may influence preparation initiatives and may encourage consideration of how individual factors may mediate teacher training and preparation.

Honoring the Ways of American Indian Women: A Group Therapy Intervention

A culturally grounded group intervention for a typically underserved population of urban American Indian women is described. The intervention is designed to increase interpersonal connection, improve inter-tribal acceptance and trust, and enhance psychological well being of marginalized urban American Indian women. Topics used to structure the intervention were generated collaboratively with tribal community members and included self-exploration and education, aging, body image, work, friendship, love commitment, and nurturance/motherhood. For illustrative purposes, the authors elaborate on two of these group therapy topics and provide member and leader reflections.