Assessment of the problems encountered by children with intellectual disabilities in mainstreaming education and their families' needs from social works' perspective

This research has been carried out in order to determine the problems of children with mild intellectual disabilities that they encounter during mainstreaming education process and their families' needs from a social works' perspective. Research data was collected between March 2nd-May 23rd 2015, via interviews and questionnaires conducted with families of 96 children with mild intellectual disabilities attending to 11 separate special education and rehabilitation centers that are directed by social workers with at least 10 years' experience in Ankara. The majority of parents which were interviewed within the research was primary or secondary school graduate. Almost all of the mothers were housewives. The majority of fathers were working as laborers or government employees. Therefore, the number of families benefiting from social aid is very low. It was determined that the majority of parents did not have enough information about mainstreaming education. Only 60.4% of the children who continue to be part of the mainstreaming education had an Individualized Education Program (IEP) and it is found that half of the families did not participate in the preparation process of these IEPs. Also it was found that more than half of the families needed financial aid for the treatment, special education and care of their children. There was no significant relationship between average scores for information need sub-scale and variables such as the parents' age, families' situation of being informed about their child's educational rights, presence of pre-school children education, IEP preparation status, family's participation in the IEP process, child's benefit from IEP and cooperation between families and class teachers. As a result, it could be suggested that it would be efficient to employ social workers in special education centers and schools in order to get a better understanding of the psycho-social problems of children with special needs and their families with an understanding of multidisciplinary team working.