Implicit Association Tests of Attitudes Toward Persons With Disabilities

The authors assessed 3 of the currently available implicit association tests designed to measure attitudes toward persons with disabilities. The Revised Multiple Disability Implicit Association Test, the Implicit Association Test for Attitudes Toward Athletes With Disabilities, and the Disability Attitude Implicit Association Test were related to each other, demonstrating some consistency in measurement. They were mostly unrelated, however, to more traditional, explicit measures of attitudes toward persons with disabilities. In addition, although the implicit association tests were not related to socially desirable responding, the most psychometrically sound explicit measure (The Interaction With Disabled Persons Scale) was related to socially desirable responding.     

Perspectives of Students with Disabilities Toward Physical Education: A Qualitative Inquiry Review

The purpose of this article is to review published qualitative inquiries that examine the perspective of students with disabilities toward experiences in physical education. Keyword searches were used to identify articles from electronic databases published from 1995 to 2014. Thirteen articles met all inclusion criteria, and findings were extracted. The 13 located qualitative articles were subject to a narrative analysis, and study characteristics were tabulated. The findings of targeted studies were explored and 3 thematic clusters emerged: (a) perspectives toward typically developing peers, (b) perspectives toward physical educators, and (c) perspectives toward inclusion and exclusion. Findings from this review support the notion that positive attitudes of physical educators may be a critical feature in ensuring meaningful learning experiences for students with disabilities. Meaningful learning experiences can be constructed through modifications and accommodations during activities, creating a welcoming physical education environment and providing a choice between inclusive and segregated learning environments. Directions for future research in this area are discussed.     

Changing Kinesiology and Physical Education by Infusing Information About Individuals With Disabilities

Just as faculty are expected to refer to performance and behavior changes that occur by age, gender, and other factors, an infusion of information about individuals with disabilities requires us to focus on the range of human variability and its relation to physical activity across the life span. This call to infuse information about individuals with disabilities should affect most kinesiology/ physical education undergraduate and graduate curricula in institutions of higher education. Advocacy for this idea has been developing for many years (Hall & Stiehl, 1978; Sherrill, 1988; Stein, 1969). Such infusion could add to and enhance our ability to contribute to the broad goals of society. But for us to assume this role, we must change our curricula to meet our published mission of serving society. This change will help disciplinary and professional preparation programs produce a broader range of scholarly activity and provide leadership that other disciplines may envy     

Attitudes and Behaviour of Children Toward Peers with Disabilities

The theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1988) was used to examine the relationship between the attitudes and behaviour of primary school children towards peers with physical disabilities included in regular education. The participants were 188 primary school children aged 8 to 12 years. Children's attitudes toward peers with disabilities, their behavioural intentions to interact with and befriend such peers, and the amount of control they perceived having over interactional behaviour, were assessed using self-report measures. These variables were used to predict the amount of time children reported spending with their classmates with physical disabilities in the classroom and playground. The results supported the theory of planned behaviour. Children's attitudes and perceived behavioural control were significant predictors of their intentions to interact with a child with physical disabilities. Intentions predicted actual behaviour to a modest extent, while perceived behavioural control was not directly associated with actual behaviour. The implications of these findings for interventions to change the attitudes and behaviours of students toward classmates with disabilities are discussed.     

Value Preferences of Teachers and their Attitudes towards Individuals with Disabilities

The article presents results of a study on the correlation between value preferences and attitudes towards individuals with a disability. Five hundred and eighty respondents took part in the research, among them 300 special needs teachers (SNT) and 280 general teachers (GT). Attitudes towards Individuals with a Disability Scale and Brzozowski’s Scheler Value Scale were used in the research. Significant correlations (Pearson’s r) between attitudes towards individuals with a disability and value preference were found only in the group of SNT and solely in terms of vital values. Canonical analysis showed significant complex correlations between value preferences and attitudes towards individuals with disability in SNT. Preference for the lower values and the rejection of the higher values correlate with ambivalence and with negative attitudes towards individuals with a disability. In the case of GT, the canonical variable is not statistically significant.     

Accommodations and flags: Admissions testing and the Rights of Individuals With Disabilities

As the number of students with disabilities applying for admission and enrolling in educational institutions continues to increase, educators and measurement experts face the challenge of determining whether and how to offer accommodations in admissions tests and how to report and utilize the results of modified tests. This article discusses the provision of accommodations in admissions testing and in educational programs, the test score flagging practices that impact admissions testing, validity concerns, and issues surrounding fairness and compliance with the federal disability laws for such practices. It offers some conclusions about the legality of the use of flagged test scores, as well as a call for further research concerning testing and evaluating students with disabilities.     

Psychological Benefits of Participation in Three-dimensional Virtual Worlds for Individuals with Real-world Disabilities

One hundred and ninety-six individuals with real-world disabilities were administered a battery of psychological adjustment measures soon after joining the three-dimensional virtual world of Second Life^®. After three months, 61 participants who continued to be actively involved in Second Life were re-administered the adjustment measures and completed a survey about their virtual and real-life experiences during the interval between assessments. Participants’ scores significantly improved on measures of affective states (depression, anxiety, positive emotion, life satisfaction, and feelings of loneliness) and self-evaluation (self-esteem). An index of overall change was associated with the number of virtual friends and group affiliations in Second Life, as well as feelings about the self as a result of involvement in the virtual world. The current study provides initial empirical support that three-dimensional virtual worlds can serve as a psychologically beneficial context for individuals with real-life disabilities.     

Comprehensive School-Based Physical Activity Promotion: A Review

Physical activity (PA) participation levels among youth remain well below national recommendations. Thus, a variety of strategies to promote youth PA have been advocated, including multifaceted, school-based approaches. One identified as having great potential is a comprehensive school physical activity program (CSPAP). The goal of a CSPAP is to develop a school culture conducive to promoting lifelong PA across five integral components, each serving as a plausible point of intervention: (a) physical education, (b) PA during school, (c) PA before and after school, (d) staff involvement, and (e) family/community involvement. The purpose of this article is to provide an up-to-date review on all CSPAP components, propose the potential of such comprehensive interventions in increasing youth PA levels, and provide future directions for CSPAP research.     

A Meta-Analysis of School-Age Children's Attitudes Towards Persons with Physical or Intellectual Disabilities

Factors associated with children's attitudes towards persons with physical and intellectual disabilities were examined in a meta-analysis spanning the years 1990 to 2000. A total of 20 studies met the inclusion criteria allowing for 65 comparisons across 2,240 participants. Factors of interest were attitudinal components, type of disability, age and gender of respondents, and role of inclusion. The majority of research findings revealed that children preferred target children without disabilities compared to targets with physical or intellectual disabilities. Three methods for calculating average effect sizes were used: (a) unweighted means, (b) weighted means, and (c) vote counting. It was concluded that biases in attitudes do exist but that summary results need to be interpreted with regard to individual study differences and the methods used to calculate mean effect sizes.     

Trends Toward the Future in Physical Activity Programming

ABSTRACT

In the wake of multiple activity program eliminations and frequent downgrading of activity programs nationwide, the question to be addressed is how we can draw upon our interdisciplinary, intergenerational, and intercultural understandings of human movement to construct physical activity programs for the future that might withstand the test of time. The perspective of this article is that while physical activity programming of the one-size-fits-all monolithic scale may be superfluous to the needs of many universities, superlative programs cleverly crafted around philosophical principles that are near and dear to a particular institution could be the wave of the future. The problem is how to conceive and incubate programs of appropriate size and appealing content that will flourish as an integral feature of the academic mission.     

Third-Age Education in Canada and Japan: Attitudes Toward Aging and Participation in Learning

Lifelong learning is essential to participation in society, and presents important challenges for educational gerontology. This study compares Canadian and Japanese perspectives on (a) attitudes toward aging, (b) the learning needs of older adults, and (c) the role of centers of learning. Surveys were conducted of sample populations in two elder colleges in Japan (N = 419, 753; mean age 66.4,70.5) and two senior centers in Canada (N = 122; mean age 75.0). Results suggest Canadian respondents have more positive attitudes toward aging; Japanese respondents have greater needs for social/communicative learning; and Canadians have a greater need for traditional learning. Future implications for older-adult education and research are discussed.     

Parental Influence on Physical Activity of Children with Disabilities

The purpose of this study was to identify parental influences on physical activity behaviours of children with disabilities. One hundred and forty-eight parents of children with disabilities responded to a survey about factors related to parent and child physical activity, parental support and belief in their child’s abilities regarding physical activity. The results of multiple regression revealed that parents’ perceived competence of their child’s physical ability and parental support were the key factors of promoting physical activity behaviours of children with disabilities. Findings from this study should be utilised to inform parents on the ways that they can be most helpful for improving the physical activity experiences of their children.     

Inclusion in Physical Education: Teacher Attitudes and Student Experiences. A Systematic Review

This is a systematic review article of 27 studies on what existing research tells us about the experience (or lack of experience) of inclusion in Physical Education (PE) among disabled students, which localised factors are promoting or hampering inclusion in PE and to what extent attitudes are decisive in these localised processes. Seventeen studies examined teachers’ attitudes and 10 studies examined students’ experiences. The analysis follows the guidelines recommended by Harden and colleagues for ‘view-studies’; systematic reviews based on both qualitative and quantitative studies. The main findings reveal that students with disabilities experience exclusion and a lack of belonging in PE, but in some of the most recent articles we find students with disabilities who ‘love PE’. PE teachers share the normative goal of inclusion but perceive it as impossible to achieve due to a lack of competence and a lack of resources, but mostly due to the presupposition of the constructed ‘normate’ PE student.     

走向伙伴协作的残障儿童家庭参与——基于美国研究的考察

在美国特殊教育的发展进程中,残障儿童家庭面临着巨大的压力,同时也起着不可替代性的作用.家庭参与的权利不仅通过法律加以保证,在研究和实践领域中,也得到人们的格外重视.家庭压力、家庭支持、伙伴协作等成为残障儿童家庭参与的研究主题,并最终走向聚焦家庭生活质量提升的赋权增能.     

Influencing Attitudes Toward the Handicapped:

No abstract available for this article.     

The Potentials of Using Mobile Technology in Teaching Individuals with Learning Disabilities: A Review of Special Education Technology Literature

Within the literature, a respectful number of studies related to the use of assistive technologies for special education, resulting in an enormous agenda that encompasses various types of assistive technology applied across disabilities in different types of curricula. These disabilities include, but are not limited to: learning disabilities, mild, moderate and severe mental retardation, speech and communication disorders, hearing and speaking disabilities, and autism Hence, under the intertwined and overlapping umbrellas of assistive technologies and special education, mobile technology finds its promising, new spot on the surface of emerging assistive technologies in the field of special education. This paper addresses the potentials of using mobile technology in teaching individuals with developmental disorders based on current literature.     

Applying Log-Linear Models to the Study of Career Development and Transition of Individuals With Disabilities

The analysis of categorical data has relied heavily on the traditional chi-square test. Although useful, chi-square is limited to testing single pairs of variables. Over the past several decades a powerful extension to chi-square analysis, able to analyze associations among several variables simultaneously, has been developed. This multivariate extension, known as log-linear analysis, offers opportunities for investigators to analyze and interpret categorical data with greater precision than previously possible. We provide an overview of the major steps involved in log-linear analysis and seek to promote its use when categorical data are lcollected from studies on the career development and transition of individuals with disabilities from school to adult life.     

Education Affects Attitudes of Physical Therapy Providers Toward People with Dementia

A survey was sent to every skilled nursing home (N = 495) in Indiana regarding the demographics, education, and whether the severity of dementia impacts the attitudes of people in physical therapy practice. Physical therapists (PTs) and physical therapist assistants (PTAs) practicing in nursing homes spend considerable time (44.0%) working with patients who have a diagnosis of dementia. As patients with dementia disorders declined cognitively, attitudes of PTs/PTAs become increasingly negative, and respondents feel that education, training, and resources are insufficient to maximize outcomes in the later stages of the disease.     

Conducting Preference Assessments and Reinforcer Testing for Individuals With Profound Multiple Disabilities: Issues and Procedures

The purpose of this article is to review the current research on preference assessment and reinforcer testing for individuals with profound multiple disabilities (PMD). It briefly reviews the literature that describes a subpopulation of individuals with PMD distinct from the general population of individuals labeled as having profound disabilities. The article describes the types of preference assessment procedures that have been used with individuals with PMD. Results from 13 published studies, which assessed preferences and tested reinforcers with individuals with PMD, suggest that preference procedures currently used with individuals at the higher levels of profound disabilities and individuals with severe disabilities are not always successful in identifying preferred stimuli that function as consistent reinforcers for individuals with PMD. Based on this review and other studies over a 3-year period, this article provides a rationale for conducting preference assessments to assist in curriculum development and describes a process for conducting preference assessments and targeting social, affective, and motor behaviors to increase with individuals with PMD.