Disabled Peers Research Articles

Determinants of Children's Attitudes Toward Disability: A Review of Evidence

Children's expressed attitudes toward handicapped peers are related to many factors In this review the authors assess recent literature and present data from their own studies concerning the role of gender, age, parental attitudes, volunteering, familiarity with a disabled person, and the physical structure of schools as determinants of attitudes The importance of understanding these determinants is discussed.

Adolescents’ views of their physically handicapped peers ‐‐ a comparative study

Summary This paper describes a questionnaire and interview study of the attitudes of 14‐year‐olds towards their physically handicapped peers. Adolescents from a school practising a policy of integration were more likely than those from a non‐integrated school to think that the physically handicapped were clever, friendly, capable in domestic situations and approachable in social circumstances. The findings support the view that integration makes a significant contribution towards the social acceptance of the physically handicapped.

Mainstreaming and Labelling: An Assumption Challenged?

ABSTRACTA key assumption of the mainstreaming movement is that exposure of young children to their disabled peers provides opportunities for the formation of accurate views of the characteristics and attributes of children with disabilities. Essentially, it is argued that experience enables children to transcend labelling, stereotyping and stigmatization. Prospective data are reported on the mainstreaming of two preschool aged children with spina bifida, based on the content analysis of records of speech, collected over a school year, on 22% of the times when children had opportunities to interact socially. The data indicate that the children seemed to generate their own labels, disability terms and developmental mythologies, which endured across the year. The study highlights the limited attention that has been paid to the collection of data on the social-cognitive processes of children and their disabled peers in mainstreamed settings and emphasizes the scant consideration of evidence from psychology in the mainstreaming debate.

Rewards Common to the Classroom Setting: A Comparison of Regular and Self-Contained Room Student Ratings

The present study identified rewards common to both regular and special education classrooms and compared ratings of these reinforcement alternatives between handicapped and nonexceptional students. A 12-item questionnaire assessing the desirability of various rewards identified previously in a pilot study was completed by 72 subjects. Results indicated that ratings by nonexceptional students in regular classroom settings did not differ significantly from those of their handicapped peers in self-contained room placements. Rewards rated as most desirable by both groups were the receipt of good grades and free time privileges for work completion. Results are discussed in terms of programing for the generalization and maintenance of behavior change between special and regular education settings.

Does a Physical Handicap Alter the Development of Mastery Motivation During the Preschool Years?

Sixty-one children (22 physically handicapped and 39 nonhandicapped) were assessed at ages 3½ years and 4½ years. Six components of mastery motivation were assessed during structured tasks and during unstructured free play. Results indicated that nonhandicapped children were more motivated than their physically handicapped peers. On structured tasks, nonhandicapped children persisted more on difficult tasks and preferred challenging tasks over easy tasks; however, handicapped children were just as curious as nonhandicapped children. During play, nonhandicapped children had longer lasting play activities, spent less time unfocused, and had more complex play (age 3½) or play at a higher cognitive level (age 4½). These results were virtually unchanged when subsamples of handicapped and nonhandicapped children matched on 1Q and socioeconomic status were examined. Severity of handicap showed little relationship to level of motivation. Mastery motivation on structured tasks was highly stable over the 1-year period, whereas the stability of motivation during free play was generally low. The conceptual and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Modification of Student Attitudes Toward Disabled Peers

This study set out to determine the effects of two disabled university students on the attitudes of students in a weight training class. University students enrolled in two general weight training classes agreed to participate in this study. They were administered the Attitude Toward Disabled Persons scale at the start and finish of a university quarter (10 weeks). Two physically disabled university students agreed to be integrated into one of the classes. T tests and an analysis of covariance revealed a significant improvement in the attitudes of students who were in the weight training class with the disabled students. Implications for systematic practicum experience for majors in areas that would have future contact with disabled populations was discussed. Peer interaction appears to have a positive significant effect on the attitudes of nondisabled students toward disabled individuals.

An Enrichment Program for Gifted Learning Disabled Students

Professionals interested in gifted/learning disabled students have found that these students have educational needs different from those of their learning disabled peers with average ability. This article describes and evaluates a pilot enrichment program designed to meet their needs. Seven bright learning disabled youngsters in grades 4 and 5 met for 2½ hours a week over a nine-month period to develop their strengths and interests through challenging enrichment activities. Six of the seven students showed gains in self-esteem, learning behavior, and creative productivity.

Special class placements as labels: effects on children's attitudes toward learning handicapped peers.

This study determined whether different types of special education placements affected children's attitudes toward learning handicapped peers in a school where no clinical labels were used. Traditionally these peers would have been labeled “learning disabled” and “educable mentally retarded.” Seventy-seven fourth- through sixth-graders judged the capabilities of peers depicted in written vignettes as attending one of two types of placement: a resource room or a special classroom. These placements were identical to those found in the children's school. Children saw resource room targets as significantly more capable than special class targets. This indicated that educational placements alone could act as de facto labels. Older children were found to have higher expectations of peers regardless of placement. Implications for teachers and researchers were discussed.

Children's attitudes toward physically handicapped peers

The present study is a detailed exploration of children's attitudes toward physically handicapped peers. Subjects were 52 children, 26 handicapped and 26 nonhandicapped, ranging from 2nd through 8th grade. Along with 11 drawings depicting various physical impairments, children were administered an adjective checklist measure to assess affective responses toward target pictures, a preference questionnaire to assess behavioral intentions toward target pictures, a ranking task to assess perceptions of the physical capabilities of the target pictures, and a social desirability questionnaire to assess the children's desire to appear socially acceptable. In general, results indicated that older nonhandicapped children were more positive toward handicapped peers than were younger children and this was especially true for target pictures they perceived as least physically active. In addition, handicapped children held less positive attitudes toward the more “normal” target pictures than did nonhandicapped children. The present findings have important implications for the mainstreaming of physically handicapped children.

Children's Attitudes Toward Disabled Peers: A Self-Report Measure

Reliable and valid measures of children's attitudes toward disabled peers are critical prerequisites for the study of determinants and modifiability of attitudes. Methodological guidelines exist by which to develop and assess children's self-report measures, however existing instruments seldom fulfill these criteria. The present report describes the development of a measure of children's attitudes toward handicapped peers. Results indicated that the measure is reliable, internally consistent, and shows good construct validity. The measure has potential value in the study of determinants of children's attitudes and in the evaluation of programs designed to improve attitudes.

An Investigation of the Factor Structure of a Scale for the Measurement of Children's Attitudes Toward Handicapped Peers Within Regular Music Environments

The purpose of this study was to investigate the structure of a newly developed survey instrument for the measurement of children's attitudes toward severely handicapped (retarded) peers integrated into music school and recreational environments. An Acceptance Within Music Scale (AMS) was developed to parallel items on a general Acceptance Scale (AS) that has demonstrated validity and reliability (Meyer, 1981). Factor analysis was used to explore the structure of the AMS and to determine whether the dimensions found are similar to those dimensions being assessed by the AS (i.e., social contact willingness, actual contact-wheelchair, name calling, and deviance consequation). Both the AS and AMS were administered to 136 public school students in an elementary school specifically selected as a low-contact school. No severely or moderately retarded students were enrolled in the school. Results suggest that there are four dimensions assessed by the AMS. Based on factor-loadings and item-by-item comparisons, the factors found for the AMS were very similar to those dimensions suggested by Meyer. The most prominent factor and the factor with identical correspondence was social contact willingness.

Attitudes Toward Handicapped Children:

Positive attitudes toward handicapped children are paramount for success in mainstreaming. In this study, attitude change toward handicapped children as judged by their nonhangicapped peers were investigated. An educational puppet show was used as the independent variable in this study. Results as measured by pre-to-post test changes on a visual analogue scale, demonstrated significant increase in students' information gain about handicapped peers; however, items suggesting personal feelings and behavior were not altered. Furthermore, a stable order of preference toward the physically handicapped remained on the post test. Implication from this study indicate the important of long term structured learning experience and direct contact as necessary variables for attitude change toward the handicapped.

Attitudes Toward Handicapped Children:

Positive attitudes toward handicapped children are paramount for success in mainstreaming. In this study, attitude change toward handicapped children as judged by their nonhangicapped peers were investigated. An educational puppet show was used as the independent variable in this study. Results as measured by pre-to-post test changes on a visual analogue scale, demonstrated significant increase in students' information gain about handicapped peers; however, items suggesting personal feelings and behavior were not altered. Furthermore, a stable order of preference toward the physically handicapped remained on the post test. Implication from this study indicate the important of long term structured learning experience and direct contact as necessary variables for attitude change toward the handicapped.

Training mildly handicapped peers to facilitate changes in the social interaction skills of autistic children.

We evaluated the effects of a peer-training strategy, consisting of direct prompting and modeling, on the occurrence and duration of interactions between autistic students and nonautistic peer-trainers. Data were obtained in both training and generalization settings. The results of a multiple-baseline design across students demonstrated that:the direct prompting procedure produced immediate and substantial increases in the occurrences and durations of positive social interactions between the peer-trainers and autistic students; these increases were maintained across time at levels above baseline during subsequent free-play probes; these findings were judged by teachers to be socially valid; untrained peers increased their interactions with the autistic students in three of the four groups; generalization of behavior change across settings occurred only after specific programming; and interactions between untrained peers and peer-trainers decreased following training. Variables that may account for the results and the implications of these findings for peer-mediated interventions are discussed.

Structuring Small Groups and Music Reinforcement to Facilitate Positive Interactions and Acceptance of Severely Handicapped Students in the Regular Music Classroom

Positive interactions of severely handicapped students integrated into four grade levels of I elementary music classes were studied under three teaching conditions: (a) large group, (b) small cooperative group, and (c) small cooperative group with a music listening contingency for cooperation. The design consisted of multiple baselines for social interaction with pretest and posttest measures of nonhandicapped students' general acceptance and acceptance of their severely handicapped peers within music. The mean rates of positive interactions were found to increase relative to the degree to which antecedents (small group) and reinforcement (music) were structured for interactions. Mean rates were highest under small group contingency conditions and lowest under large group conditions. Grades with the highest rates of positive interactions indicated significant positive change for music as well as general acceptance. Results indicate that positive social interactions between nonhandicapped and handicapped students in the integrated music classroom with increases in nonhandicapped students' acceptance are not a result of music classroom experiences and music instruction alone but the degree to which teaching conditions specifically structure classroom antecedents and reinforcement for social interaction. Benefits of the integrated music classroom are discussed.

Assigning Grades in the High School Mainstream: Perceptions of Teachers and Students

High school progams for mildly handicapped individuals usually provide the opportunity for handicapped students to attend regular classes for at least part of the school day. Thus, students with identified learning problems are placed in classrooms with non handicapped peers, and teachers are confronted with new dilemmas regarding what constitutes acceptable classroom performance. Special education professionals have suggested that traditional grading practices may victimize handicapped students and that handicapped students should not be compared with regular students for grading purposes. This study investigated actual grading practices by academic and vocational teachers in the mainstream and the perception of grades by exception at students. An emergent naturalistic design was employed and individual interviews were conducted with 41 teachers and 15 students. An analysis of the qualitative data indicated that teachers use a different set of criteria for assigning grades to handicapped students effort and attendance are heavily weighed, and some teachers make a systematic effort to establish performance standards for exceptional students. The students themselves indicate an awareness that good behavior and good effort are essential criteria for passing. Teachers expressed an awareness and concern for the special needs of exceptional students and a sense of discomfort with current grading practices.

Teaching Nonhandicapped Students about Individual Differences: A Pilot Study

The lack of social acceptance of handicapped students by their nonhandicapped peers has been cited as a major deterrent to the success of mainstreaming (Strain, 1982). While this problem has been recognized, there has been little empirical investigation of ways to deal with the social acceptance issue beyond direct training of the handicapped in appropriate social behavior development (Gresham 1981). The primary purpose of the present investigation was to examine the influence of training nonhandicapped students about individual differences on their social interactions with rejected handicapped students. The results of the investigation provide initial evidence that training nonhandicapped students about individual differences influences their social interactions with their rejected handicapped peers in a small group setting.

Building acceptance of differences between handicapped and nonhandicapped students: the effects of cooperative and individualistic instruction.

Summary In order to test whether nonhandicapped students reject or dislike lower-achieving handicapped peers with whom they collaborate 48 students (36 nonhandicapped and 12 handicapped) were assigned to cooperative or individualistic conditions 55 minutes a day for 15 instructional days. The results indicate that cooperative learning experiences promoted higher achievement and greater interpersonal attraction between handicapped and nonhandicapped students, as well as more cross-handicap interaction focused on supporting and regulating efforts to learn and to ensure involvement of all students in the learning tasks.

Social Adjustment of Preschool Children

Teachers' ratings of the social-emotional adjustment of four groups of preschool children were collected: deaf children with additional handicaps; deaf children without additional handicaps; hearing children with other handicaps; and hearing children without other handicaps. Additionally handicapped deaf children and hearing children with other handicaps were seen as significantly less adjusted than their less handicapped peers. Deaf-only children and hearing children without handicaps differed very little from each other. In terms of developmental skills, the most handicapped group of children scored significantly below the other three groups. Individual items are presented where differing patterns appear, and the implications of the findings are discussed.

Non-Handicapped College Students as Social Audience: A Study of their Perceptions of and Interactions with Handicapped Peers

Non-Handicapped College Students as Social Audience: A Study of their Perceptions of and Interactions with Handicapped Peers