Bill Hutchison has Down syndrome and ADHD and has bitten, struck, tripped, and attempted to strangle teachers and other staff members at his school, Monocacy Elementary, in the past year. After these incidents, Frederick County Public School officials took an unusual step: They applied for a 10-day restraining order to prevent the boy from…

This unit of study aims to help students understand that persons with disabilities are more alike than different from persons without disabilities, to help students appreciate that all people regardless of differences are valuable and worthwhile, to offer students hands-on activities to help them become sensitive to the differences in the lives of…

The study compared attitudes of nine 6th grade students (eight female and one male) who volunteered to participate in a peer tutoring swimming program for moderately and severely handicapped children with the attitudes of the remainder of the sixth grade class (N=15) who had not volunteered. All students had previously completed a curriculum…

The digest addresses, in question-and-answer format, ways to promote peer acceptance of handicapped students. Topics covered include the effects of first impressions on nonhandicapped students and the impact of physical proximity, and the nature of interdependence among students' learning goals and rewards as structured by the teacher. A…

The paper describes the Parent-Child Enrichment Program, a series of seven in-school training sessions for parents of severely multiply impaired children. Small, informal group formats are used to provide training in the following areas: sensory stimulation, modes of communication, exercises in the home, mealtime and fashion, and parents' needs…

The study was conducted to determine the relationships among the attitudes held by 198 high school principals toward the work-study program and the handicapped, selected program variables, and background variables of interest. The research design entailed four phases: (1) selecting a sample of 100 high schools in Texas with work-study programs;…

The purposes of this study were to assess the attitudes of preschoolers toward two types of handicapping conditions (mental retardation and physical disabilities), and to explore the underlying social reasoning used by young children to formulate/support their perceptions. Sixteen 3- and 4-year-old boys and girls were presented with two…

One hundred thirty-five Japanese university students participated in a study of attitudes toward the physically handicapped. Results supported the hypothesis that the attitudes of the nonhandicapped toward physically handicapped persons with desirable personality traits were more positive than attitudes toward those with undesirable personality…

Compared was the relative effectiveness of using games or programed instruction (PI) to transmit information about cognitive similarities between educable mentally retarded (EMR) and nonretarded children to 56 special education teacher trainees. Trainees were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups (game or PI) or to an attitude control…

Examined in 60 black undergraduates were the effects of age and sex on attitudes toward the handicapped, attitudes toward instructional goals, and social adjustment. Ss ranged in age from 18 to 42 years and were administered the following scales: Attitude Towards Handicapped Individuals Scale, Preferred Student Characteristic Scale, and the Is of…

Prior to an advertising campaign directed toward the handicapped and their families, interviews with 995 adults, 481 handicapped persons, and 100 physicians were conducted. It was found that the lower economic group, which has the highest incidence of disability (17% as compared to 5% in upper economic households), has the least knowledge of how…

The effects of emotional role playing on interpersonal attitudes toward the disabled are explored. Three treatment groups (role players, vicarious role players, and controls) were involved. Role playing consisted of traveling about the campus in a wheel chair for an hour. Results indicated that, compared to the control experience, both direct and…

In an examination of nonhandicapped children's attitudes toward handicapped children, 131 grade school Ss were asked to select from the Personal Attribute Inventory for Children 15 adjectives which best fit three groups of handicapped as well as normal children. (Author/CL)

Results of using the "Peer Attitudes toward the Handicapped Scale" with Australian intermediate grade children (N=368) indicated its suitability in its present form (including U.S. norms) for sixth grade students, though it is suggested separate norms need to be developed for other grade levels. (Author/DB)

Attitudes of 184 Arab families in Israel toward their developmentally disabled children were assessed. Questionnaire results indicated that, of the three religious groups represented in the sample (Christian, Muslim, and Druze), the Druze showed the most positive attitudes. Higher levels of education were found to correlate with less positive…