The Impact of Paralympic School Day on Student Attitudes Toward Inclusion in Physical Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if Paralympic School Day (PSD), a published disability awareness program, would have a positive impact on the attitudes of students without disabilities toward the inclusion of students with disabilities in physical education classes. Participants were 143 sixth-grade students who were divided into 2 groups (experimental n = 71, control n = 72), with the experimental group receiving the PSD treatment. Participants responded 2 times to Siperstein's Adjective Checklist and Block's Children's Attitudes Toward Integrated Physical Education-Revised (CAIPE-R) questionnaire. Four ANCOVA tests were conducted. Results indicated a significant PSD treatment effect across all 4 measures: Adjective Checklist (p = .046, η² = .03), CAIPE-R (p = .002, η² = .04), inclusion subscale (p = .001, η² = .05), and sport-modification subscale (p = .027, η² = .02).