The impact of integration on young children's understanding of disability
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine, under the framework of attitude development, typically developing children's cognitive and affective/behavioral responses toward their classmates with disabilities over four months of time. Changes in children's understanding of specific disabilities and social interactions with peers with those specific disabilities were assessed while children participated in an integrated preschool setting. Preschool children without disabilities (31 children (13 females), mean age: 53 months, 81% Caucasian) participated in this short term longitudinal study. Children were from one of three University-based integrated classrooms. Children were interviewed twice, four months apart, about their knowledge of physical disability, hearing impairment, and visual impairment. Measures of social distance were completed three times during this four month period and ratings of social interaction were completed twice. Parents completed a questionnaire on their attitudes toward integration. Children showed an increase in knowledge of disability over the course of the study. Children discriminated between the abilities and limitations of hypothetical children with specific disabilities, yet they did not believe that children with disabilities would be any less likely to have friends than children without disabilities. Ratings of children's social interactions increased over time for all children, but by the end of the study, children were rated as interacting significantly more frequently with their typically developing peers than with their peers with disabilities. Positive parental attitudes toward integration were associated with measures of social distance. Implications for practice and avenues for future research are discussed.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Diamond, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Preschool education|Families & family life|Personal relationships|Sociology
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