Mainstream Teachers’ Experiences of Communicating with Students with Multiple and Severe Disabilities

The aim of this study was to explore regular teachers’ perceptions and experiences of supports and obstacles to communicative interactions for students with multiple and severe disabilities (MSD). Five teachers of students with MSD participated in two in-depth interviews. Interview transcripts were analysed using content analysis. Transcripts were coded into categories, which were then grouped to yield content themes. Participants identified a broad range of themes, including: the complex needs of students with MSD, teachers’ training and experience, communication education for teachers, the presence of peers without disabilities, the mainstream classroom, other staff in the school context, resources, infrastructure, the culture, size and geographical location of the school, the home context, support from specialist personnel outside the school, including collaboration with speech-language pathologists, the role of government departments, and broader societal factors. There are complex, systemic influences on access to communicative interactions for students with MSD in mainstream school settings. Inadequate systemic supports restrict communicative interactions between students with MSD and their teachers and peers without disabilities, and limit the involvement of students with MSD in mainstream classroom activities. Further research is required with teachers of students with MSD to substantiate these preliminary findings. Access to communicative interactions is important for the educational participation and social inclusion of students with multiple and severe disabilities (MSD) (Calculator & Black, 2009; Downing, 2006). For several decades, however, researchers have reported low frequencies of communicative interaction for these students at school (Arthur, 2003; De Bortoli et al., 2010). Until recently, little research has examined potential reasons for the low frequencies of communicative interactions and there is limited understanding about their persistence, particularly between teachers and students with MSD (De Bortoli et al.). Our recently reported research suggests that supports and barriers to communicative interactions for these students in segregated classrooms (i.e., special schools and support units) are complex and systemic (De Bortoli, T., Arthur-Kelly, M., Foreman, P., Balandin, S., & Mathisen, B., 2011). In the past 20 years, researchers have suggested that the presence of peers without disabilities in mainstream school settings may offer a more favourable context for enhancing the frequency of communicative interactions for students with MSD (Arthur-Kelly, Foreman, Bennett, & Pascoe, 2008; Calculator, 2009; Houghton, Bronicki, & Guess, 1987; Siegel-Causey & Bashinski, 1997). Further, the potential benefits of mainstream settings for students with severe disabilities have been well documented (Carter, Hughes, Guth, & Copeland, 2005; Downing, 2001, 2006; Hunt, Soto, Maier, & Doering, 2003; Kent-Walsh, & Light, 2003; Soto, Muller, Hunt, & Goetz, 2001). Researchers have investigated the level of engagement and frequency of communication for students with severe disability and MSD in Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Tania De Bortoli, School of Education, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, AUSTRALIA. E-mail: [email protected] Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 2012, 47(2), 236–252 © Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities 236 / Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities-June 2012 both primary and high school settings. However, research with primary-aged students with MSD in mainstream classrooms has produced mixed results. Foreman, Arthur-Kelly, Pascoe, and Smyth King (2004) found that students with MSD spent more time involved in communicative interactions in mainstream classrooms than in segregated classrooms. In contrast, Helmstetter, Curry, Brennan, and Sampson-Saul (1998) identified that students were more actively engaged in segregated classrooms, and that in mainstream classrooms, they were most actively engaged when interacting on a one-to-one basis with a teachers’ aide (TA). Researchers have claimed also that students with severe disabilities in mainstream high schools continue to have limited engagement in classrooms activities and that the frequency of communicative interactions remains low (Carter & Hughes, 2006; Carter et al.; Downing, 2006; Hughes et al., 2002). Given that school may be an optimal place to acquire and practise communication skills, there is a need to better understand how to support students with MSD to leave the education system having realised their potential as communicators (Downing). There appears to be a consensus among researchers that, although there may be increased opportunities for communicative interactions in mainstream school settings, physical placement alone is not sufficient to ensure increased access to communicative interactions for students with intellectual or physical disabilities (Calculator, 2009; Cutts & Sigafoos, 2001; Downing, 2006; Hughes et al., 2002; Kent-Walsh & Light, 2003). Indeed, researchers have concluded that there may be a range of complex factors, including contextual factors, influencing the communication of students with MSD in mainstream school settings (Arthur-Kelly et al., 2008; Cutts & Sigafoos; De Bortoli et al., 2010; Helmstetter et al., 1998). Despite mixed research results regarding frequencies of communication opportunities for students with MSD in mainstream classrooms, to date there has been limited research with teachers exploring the factors potentially influencing such opportunities (Arthur-Kelly et al., 2008; Carter & Hughes, 2006; De Bortoli et al., 2011; McNally, Cole, & Waugh, 2001). Most research investigating the involvement of students with severe disabilities in mainstream classrooms has been conducted in large metropolitan schools (Carter et al., 2005; Cutts & Sigafoos, 2001). This is despite reports from families in rural areas that they wish their child with a significant disability to attend the local school in order to have the opportunity to interact with other children in the community (Calculator, 2009; Downing, 2006). The aim of the present study was to explore teachers’ perceptions and experiences of factors that influence the communicative interactions of students with MSD in mainstream school settings in rural areas.