Easing Anxiety through Increasing Knowledge: Supporting
Educators in Inclusive Settings General educators are often
anxious or fearful when learning that a student with a
disability is to be included in their classroom. These anxieties
are due perhaps to the teacher’s perception of not being trained
or of being ill-prepared to support students with disabilities.
Through increasing the knowledge base of preservice and/or
inservice teachers, and with exposure to the field of
disabilities, these fears or anxieties may be lessened. It has
been said that we fear the unknown, and this certainly applies
to those who have not had an opportunity to work with (or know)
an individual with a disability and their family. Through
structured and planned activities, preservice and inservice
teachers gain a more positive attitude toward the possibility of
teaching ALL children in an inclusive classroom. The realization
that individuals with disabilities are more similar to everyone
than dis-similar assists in the process. Per