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Attitudes of High School Students toward their Classmates with Severe Disabilities: a Pilot Study

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Abstract

Calls to expand inclusive education for students with severe disabilities are pervasive throughout recent policy and research initiatives. The perspectives of peers without disabilities on such inclusion are an important vantage point to understand, particularly at the high school level. In this pilot study, we examined the attitudes of 44 high school peers who were enrolled in general education classes with students with severe disabilities. Overall, these peers reported fairly high levels of exposure and contact with students with severe disabilities. Moreover, they largely endorsed positive attitudes towards adolescents with severe disabilities and inclusion. However, significant gender differences were found, with females demonstrating more positive attitudes than males. We discuss implications for research and practice focused on enhancing positive attitudes toward and relationships among students with and without severe disabilities at the high school level.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Wisconsin Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Rebecca A. Shalev, Jennifer M. Asmus & Colleen K. Moss

  2. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Erik W. Carter

Authors
  1. Rebecca A. Shalev
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  2. Jennifer M. Asmus
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  3. Erik W. Carter
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  4. Colleen K. Moss
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rebecca A. Shalev.

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Funding

The work reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education through Grant R324A100133 awarded to Vanderbilt University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Conflict of Interest

No conflict exists: R S, J A, E C, and C M declare they have no conflict of interest.

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Shalev, R.A., Asmus, J.M., Carter, E.W. et al. Attitudes of High School Students toward their Classmates with Severe Disabilities: a Pilot Study. J Dev Phys Disabil 28, 523–538 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-016-9489-x

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