The educational and treatment concept of Israeli service providers - special education teachers, professionals, direct care staff and consumers - parents

The aim of the present research was to find out the existing educational and treatment concept of service providers special school teachers, professionals and direct care staff, and consumers parents - in the city of Haifa and its peripheries. The sample included 97 subjects drawn from four areas: special education teachers (n = 23), direct care staff (n = 17), professionals (n = 30) and parents of children with developmental disabilities (n = 27). The Delphi Process was applied in the present study since it is especially suitable in cases where there is a need for judgmental information based on values, attitudes and beliefs, rather than on 'hard facts'. Results indicated that for both, service providers and consumers, the most clearly defined treatment models were: the custodial, the medical and the categorical approaches, whilst the humanistic-educational approach did not emerge as a cohesive model of treatment.