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Research on teacher thinking: Implications for mainstreaming students with multiple handicaps

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Abstract

Taking into account the ways in which regular eduction teachers think about instruction may be useful in developing effective regular classroom integration plans for students with multiple handicaps, yet relatively little attention has been paid to the teacher thinking research literature in this context. This article addresses issues related to the mainstreaming of students with multiple handicaps from the perspective of what is known about how regular education teachers think about teaching. Understanding that teachers tend to plan around content and activities rather than objectives, that teachers frequently modify instruction based on “in-flight” decisions, and that cognitive organizers such as scripts, routines, scenes, and propositional knowledge are important in helping teachers manage the abundance of information available to them, can help regular and special educators in developing integration plans.

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Potter, M.L. Research on teacher thinking: Implications for mainstreaming students with multiple handicaps. J Dev Phys Disabil 4, 115–127 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01046394

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