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Ruzica KERAMITCIEVA

Tatjana TAKASMANOVA-SOKOLOVSKA

ATTITUDES OF HEALTHY CHILDREN PARENTS TOWARDS HANDICAPPED CHILDREN AT THE PRE-SCHOOL AGE

            Since the 1970-ies, in the USA and Western and Eastern Europe, the model of segregated education has been abandoned, and nowadays the handicapped children attend  regular schools all together with other healthy pupils. This , so called Integrative Pedagogy, proceeds from the mental hygiene aspects according to which the restrictive environment in special schools has not been a favorable one for the development of those children.

            The integrational process of these children in pre-school institutions and schools has rather been difficult due to a number of reasons. As one of them, already mentioned and found in literature , has been the negative attitude of non-handicapped children parents towards those handicapped in their development.

            The problem of this research is to check and test the attitude of healthy children parents towards handicapped children at pre-school age. This research shall also tend to analyze the origin of the such attitudes i. e. , whether they have been a result of an insufficient information and ignorance of the obstacles during development, or been produced by imitation of the environment, or due to an emphaty, or even because of the fear that “ such a thing better never enter their home”, etc.

            We sincerely believe that, revealing the above parents’ attitudes and their origin, would certainly bring finding ways of their successful socialization and making the integrational process of handicapped children with their normal mates in pre-school institutions easier.