Effects of Special Education Labels on Peers' and Adults' Evaluations of a Handicapped Youth Choir

Abstract

In this study, 119 sixth- and seuenthrgrade peer subjects and 90 adult subjects evaluated I an 8.5-minute performance by a youth choir made up of children with a variety of mental and physical disabilities. Approximately half the evaluators in each age-group were informed through written instructions of the choir members' disabilities, while this information was omitted from the instructions given to the other half To control for visual information obtained while viewing the tape, two presentation modes, video plus aural, and aural alone, were used. After watching or listening to the performance, subjects rated the choir using a choral evaluation form. Subjects also responded to two open-ended questions regarding their reactions to the choir. Results indicated a significant three-way interaction among label condition, presentation mode, and age. Within each age-group, the mean rating by the group receiving neither label nor video information was the lowest of the four groups. Otherwise, the two age-groups of subjects seem to have used the information related to disabilities differently.