Parent perception of the impacts of inclusion on their nondisabled child

We studied parents' perceptions of the effects of their nondisabled child's participation in a classroom in which a child with severe disabilities was enrolled full time. Survey responses from 389 parents indicated that they generally perceived their nondisabled child to have benefited from this experience. A minority of parents held negative views of inclusion after their child's participation. Analysis of narrative comments on surveys returned by some of these parents indicated that concerns about behavioral disruption and loss of teacher time allocated to their child were the major source of their dissatisfaction. Survey comments suggested in some cases that parents did not view academic and social learning experiences to be highly related. Implications of this and other viewpoints expressed by these parents are considered in terms of priorities for teacher education and for subsequent research.