Abstract
This study deepens the field’s understanding about factors that contribute to positive social engagement between students without disabilities and their peers with mild disabilities in general education classrooms. A sample of 68 seventh grade students with and without disabilities was drawn from general education classrooms in a suburban, Midwest district in the United States. Direct observation of students’ social behavior, as well as student surveys and context measures, were used to explore associations among student attitudes, their perceived norms, feelings of efficacy, stated intentions and their actions towards peers with disabilities. Results revealed that students without disabilities strong intentions to interact with peers with disabilities were unrelated to their actual behavior. However, students’ attitudes, norms, and feelings of efficacy were predictive of their intentions. Interpretations and implications for understanding the interplay of predisposing factors, intentions to socialize, and actual socializing behavior are discussed.
Highlights
In many of today’s middle schools, students with mild disabilities are educated in the same classrooms as their peers without disabilities
An independent -samples t-test was conducted to compare the frequency of initiations towards students with disabilities (SWD) and SWOD across classroom observations
Our primary finding was that, despite strong intentions, SWOD did not move to act on those intentions to engage with their classmates who had disabilities
Summary
In many of today’s middle schools, students with mild disabilities are educated in the same classrooms as their peers without disabilities These inclusive academic contexts afford opportunities for social interactions between students with disabilities (SWD) and their classmates without disabilities (SWOD). Despite the potential for social engagement, research suggests that the frequency of interaction among peers with and without disabilities is generally low (Carter, Sisco, Brown, Brickham, & Al-Khabbaz, 2008; Estell et al, 2008; Kavale & Forness, 1996; Pearl et al, 1998) and SWD continue to experience less social acceptance, fewer positive social interactions, and be socially rejected relative to their classmates without disabilities (Dyson, 2003; Estell et al, 2008; Hamovitch, 2007; Nowicki, 2003; Sullivan et al, 2015). Research is needed to better understand why SWOD tend not engage socially with their classmates who have disabilities within academic settings
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