Evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention program to influence attitudes of students towards peers with disabilities.
Quick disability lessons give kindergarteners a small, short-lived acceptance bump and do little for older kids.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Teachers gave six short lessons about disabilities to general-education classes.
The lessons happened over three weeks in kindergarten and upper-elementary rooms.
Researchers checked kids’ attitudes right after and again one year later.
What they found
Kindergarteners liked peers with disabilities a little more right away.
Older students barely changed.
All gains were gone one year later.
How this fits with other research
Emmelkamp et al. (1986) got stronger results by giving shy kindergarteners a classroom-helper role. Their peer acceptance rose fast and stayed up.
Laposa et al. (2017) moved the idea to high school. They trained peer networks instead of lessons. Friendships for students with severe disabilities lasted two semesters.
The short lessons in de Boer et al. (2014) are easier to deliver, but the effects are smaller and fade faster than role or peer-network methods.
Why it matters
If you teach K-2 and need a quick boost, three weeks of disability talks can help a bit. For lasting change, add roles or peer networks. Either way, plan to repeat the lessons every year.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
In this study we examine the effectiveness of an intervention program to influence attitudes of elementary school students towards peers with intellectual, physical and severe physical and intellectual disabilities. A quasi-experimental longitudinal study was designed with an experimental group and a control group, both comprising two rural schools. An intervention program was developed for kindergarten (n(experimental) = 22, n(control) = 31) and elementary school students without disabilities (n(experimental) = 91, n(control) = 127) (age range 4-12 years old). This intervention consisted of a 3 weeks education project comprising six lessons about disabilities. The Acceptance Scale for Kindergarten-revised and the Attitude Survey to Inclusive Education were used to measure attitudes at three moments: prior to the start of the intervention, after the intervention and 1 year later. The outcomes of the multilevel analysis showed positive, immediate effects on attitudes of kindergarten students, but limited effects on elementary school students' attitudes.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2014 · doi:10.1007/s10803-013-1908-6