Perspectives of Students with Intellectual Disabilities About Their Experiences with Paraprofessional Support (Exceptional Children‪)‬

More students with a wider range of disabilities, including those with low-incidence disabilities (e.g., intellectual disabilities, autism, multiple disabilities), are receiving part or all of their instruction in the same classrooms as their peers without disabilities (McGregor & Vogelsberg, 1998). The use of paraprofessionals in public schools has become one of the primary mechanisms by which students with disabilities are being supported in general education classes (Giangreco, Edelman, Broer, & Doyle, 2001). Therefore, it is not surprising that there has been a substantial increase in the number of paraprofessionals hired to support students with disabilities (French, 2003). Correspondingly, there has been an increase in the amount of research devoted to paraprofessional issues. We identified 23 studies about special education paraprofessionals published between 1997 and 2004. Although these 23 studies focused on students in the United States, paraprofessional issues are being studied in other countries as well, such as Australia (Hall & Macvean, 1997); Sweden (Hemmingsson, Borell, & Gustavsson, 2003; Skar & Tamm, 2001); and the United Kingdom (Cremin, Thomas, & Vincett, 2003; Lacey, 2001). Of the 23 U.S. studies, only 4 involved interventions with a combined total of 14 students (Causton-Theoharis & Malmgren, (2005); McDonnell, Johnson, Polychronis, & Risen, 2002; Werts, Zigmond, & Leeper, 2001; Young, Simpson, Myles, & Kamps, 1997). Two others were evaluation studies of a schoolwide planning process to improve paraprofessional supports (Giangreco, Broer, & Edelman, 2002a; Giangreco, Edelman, & Broer, 2003); and one was an evaluation of paraprofessional training materials (Giangreco, Backus, CichoskiKelly, Sherman, & Mavropoulos, 2003).