REGULAR EDUCATORS PERCEPTIONS OF FACILITATING FRIENDSHIPS OF STUDENTS WITH MODERATE, SEVERE, OR PROFOUND DISABILITIES WITH NONDISABLED PEERS

Regular education teachers of kindergarten through high school age students across Iowa, Nebraska, and Florida were surveyed on their perceptions of facilitating friendships between students with moderate, severe, or profound disabilities and nondisabled peers. Results indicated that these regular educators believe that. a) such friendships are possible; b) they can/should be facilitated by adults, and c) they are beneficial to students with and without disabilities. Teachers perceived that friendships are most likely to develop when students with disabilities are educated in regular classes for part of the day. By contrast, they perceived that functional life skills and academic skills are most likely to develop when students with disabilities are educated in a special class in a regular school. Regular educators perceived special educators, regular educators (themselves), guidance counselors/school psychologists/social workers, and parents of students with and without disabilities, as having primary adult responsibility for facilitating these friendships. These regular educators perceived cooperative learning, regular/special educator collaboration, teaching social interaction skills, and peer tutoring as the most effective strategies they could use to facilitate friendships; they also indicated a high degree of willingness to personally carry out these same strategies. Comparisons are made between these findings and those concerning the perceptions of special educators on friendship facilitation. Practical implications for educators as well as future research questions related to facilitating friendships in regular education environments are suggested.