The attitude change of second-grade peer tutors working with students with severe disabilities through Laban's movement analysis
- WCU Author/Contributor (non-WCU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Heidi Leigh Turlington (Creator)
- Institution
- Western Carolina University (WCU )
- Web Site: http://library.wcu.edu/
- Advisor
- Justin Menickelli
Abstract: The attitudes of peers toward students with disabilities are important when
developing successful inclusion programs (Rosenbaum, Armstrong, & King, 1986;
Slininger, Sherrill, & Jankowski, 2000). The Contact Theory proposed that interaction
with students with disabilities could produce a change in the attitudes of non-disabled
peers (Slininger et al., 2000; Tripp, French, & Sherrill, 1995). Previous research found
that direct contact within a structured context had positive benefits on the attitudes of
peers (Esposito & Reed, 1986; Slininger et al., 2000; Tripp et al., 1995). However, the
research is not clear about when attitudes begin to change and what types of programs
cause the most change. The purpose of this study was to examine the change in attitudes
of second-grade students as they interacted with students with disabilities through a
movement program based on the Laban Movement Analysis. Second-grade students
(n=69) took a pretest and posttest on the Acceptance Scale (Voeltz, 1980), an attitude
measure for lower elementary students. The treatment group (n=35) participated in an
eight week peer tutoring program based on the Laban Analysis with students with severe
disabilities during physical education classes. The control group (n=34) participated in
physical education classes as normal. The results indicated that students who participated
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in the peer tutoring program had a higher mean acceptance score than students who
received no intervention (p = .150). In addition, students in the treatment group showed a
strong trend toward a positive change in attitude from the pretest to the posttest (p =
.051). While results were not statistically significant, a strong positive trend suggested
that the peer tutoring program caused improvements in the attitude scores of students in
the treatment group. Future research should investigate the benefits of using the Laban
Analysis in peer tutoring programs. More research should also be conducted with
students who are younger than age nine.
The attitude change of second-grade peer tutors working with students with severe disabilities through Laban's movement analysis
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Created on 4/1/2009
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Language: English
- Date: 2009
- Keywords
- adapted physical education, attitude change, inclusion, Laban Movement Analysis, peer tutors
- Subjects
- Peer-group tutoring of students
- Physical education for children with disabilities
- Mainstreaming in education
- Students with disabilities