Knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of the mainstream teachers of children with a preschool diagnosis of speech/language impairment

Severalfactors have been shown to influence inclusion of children with special educational needs. This paper reports on findings from a questionnaire investigating training, specialist knowledge, confidence, attitudes and beliefs of the Reception class, Year 1, and Year 2 teachers of a cohort of children with a preschool diagnosis of moderate or severe speech/language impairment. While teacher attitudes to mainstream inclusion of children with speech and language difficulties were generally positive, many of them reported having little or no training on speech and language impairment, with knowledge acquired mainly through ‘hands on’ experience and books. Overall, levels of confidence in their ability to meet the educational needs of such pupils were low, and mechanisms were not always in place to ensure that information regarding their pupils was shared amongst professionals, particularly when these children entered schoolfor the first time.