The impact of social referencing on social acceptance of children with disabilities and migrant background: an experimental study in primary school settings

Abstract

This computer-based study evaluates whether teacher feedback can have an effect on the acceptance of children with and without disabilities in inclusive, special and regular schools. The social acceptance of four children shown in photo vignettes (child with Down Syndrome, child in a wheelchair, child with migrant background and child with no visible disability or migrant background) was assessed and a significant main effect for the type of vignette was found (F [3, 952] = 378.57, p < .01, η2 = .54) but not for the type of school the participants currently visited (inclusive school, special school, regular school). In an intervention, information was given about whether each child received positive or negative teacher feedback and about how much fun it would be to play with each child. Following this randomised intervention, we conducted a posttest to evaluate the change in social acceptance of the four children. Our data showed that both teacher feedback (between η2 = .127 and η2 = .168) and the information about how much fun it is to play with the child (between η2 = .200 and η2 = .235) effected the social acceptance ratings. Additionally, negative feedback showed a higher overall influence than positive feedback.