Date of Award

6-1-1988

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Special Education and Communication Disorders

First Advisor

Dr. Sandra K. Squires

Abstract

This study investigated the attitudes of teachers and parents toward the integration of severely and profoundly handicapped students. A five group, single observation study was conducted to determine if teachers and parents with varying amounts of contact with handicapped people would have significantly different attitudes toward the handicapped population. The parents chosen for this study had children who attended one of two schools within a middle sized city in the Midwest. The teacher chosen were assigned to these two facilities. One facility was integrated and had severely and profoundly handicapped students enrolled. The second facility chosen for this study had special education students, however, their handicaps were not obvious and for the purposes of this study was considered a nonintegrated facility. The sample included 33 regular education teachers and 126 parents. The Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons Scale-Form A was the instrument utilized to assess the attitudes of the different groups. In addition, a demographic information sheet was also developed and used to collect data. One hundred ninety five surveys were sent out with a return rate of 82% (N 159). All returned surveys were utilized due to the small sample size of each group. Analysis of variance was the statistical method used to analyze the data. Results indicated significantly more positive attitudes in the teachers assigned to the nonintegrated facility than the teachers assigned to the integrated facility.

Comments

A Thesis Presented to the Department of Special Education and Communicatin Disorders and the Faculty of the Graduate College University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts. Copyright 1988 Lisa Wallace Scheet

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