Attitudes toward Students with Hidden Disabilities and

Resulting Social and Learning Opportunities: An Investigation and Intervention

Cecelia WhitmanSt. Mary’s College of Maryland

Mentor, Janet Kosarych-Coy

Background: InclusionThe Federal Individuals with

Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and 1997 amendments Identified public schools’ responsibility to educate

children with disabilities in general education classrooms.8

Growing movement to educate students with disabilities alongside their typically developing peers.8

The Current Study…The study seeks to gain insight into the:

How classroom members’ attitudes impact the way included students experience the social and learning environment.

Inquires into teachers’ and peers’ attitudes toward students with hidden disabilities.Teachers and students’ attitudes drive their

behavior, and consequently shape the dynamic of a classroom.

Issues of Inclusion

Teachers4 and students7 hold negative attitudes toward students with mild disabilities…

…which may pollute the classroom environment and impede social and academic opportunities for included students.

Need for InterventionThe extensive literature surrounding the

difficulties of students with hidden disabilities in the school environment related to:Academic, interpersonal and intrapersonal matters

Indicates: a clear need for intervention to:Transform the inclusive classroom into a truly

accepting and welcoming place in which these students can feel part of the dynamic.

A classroom that facilitates social and academic development for all of its students.

Hidden DisabilitiesHidden disabilities are:

“Physical or mental impairments that are not readily apparent to others.”5

Conditions may not be obvious to others 5

But the effect of a hidden disability may be long-term and may impair the individual in profound and meaningful ways. 5

AttitudesAttachment: If you could keep one student

another year for the sheer joy of it, whom would you pick? 6

Concern: If you could devote all your attention to a child who concerns you a great deal, whom would you pick? 6

Indifference: If a parent were to drop in unannounced for a conference, whose child would you be least prepared to talk about? 6

Rejection: If your class was to be reduced by one child, whom would you be relieved to have removed?6

Attachment Category

... more total praise for their academic work6

... more praise in teacher-initiated work contacts6

... less criticism when compared to classmates6

... more reading turns6 ... more process questions6 ... less process feedback,

because teachers feel they understand the work and do not further guidance6

Rejection Category

...fewer public response opportunities6

... comparable amount of direct questions as their classmates6

... fewer opportunities for open questions6

... fewer reading turns6 .... less frequent feedback6

... greater teacher-initiated individual contacts (teachers may prefer to deal with these students in private situations) 6

... greater likelihood of receiving criticism when students seek out teachers for private work contacts6

... greater criticism for classroom behavior and work6

... greater teacher avoidance tendencies6

Severity and Obviousness of Disability

Severity or apparentness of the student’s disability Influences the types of attitudes and expectations teachers form toward their students.3

Students with severe or apparent disabilities: Overrepresented in the teachers' indifference ratings.3

Students with mild or hidden disabilities: Significantly overrepresented in teachers' rejection category.3

Differential Expectations

A model of Differential Expectations4

accounts for the counterintuitive findings of: High acceptance of students with severe or obvious

disabilities3

Low acceptance of students with mild or hidden disabilities3

Attitudes toward Students with Severe Disabilities

People differentiate their expectations for students who exhibit obvious and consistent cues of their disability.3

Such cues indicate that students are unable to adhere to behavioral norms. 3

Correspondingly, teachers and students modify their expectations for individuals with severe disabilities to align with the students’ abilities and limitations. 3

Attitudes toward Students with Hidden Disabilities

However, students with mild disabilities such as a learning disability or ADHD do not exhibit obvious or consistent signs of their disability. 3

There disabilities are hidden. As a result of their relative similarity to their non-disabled peers

Teachers hold students with mild or hidden disabilities to modal behavioral standards.3

Tolerance Theory

Teachers’ instruction is compatible with a limited variety of learning characteristics.3

Limited instructional resources, coupled with the wide variety of students’ learning styles means that teachers cannot optimally attend to all students’ learning needs at all times.3

Teacher Student Teacher

Student

Teaching Resources Student Learning Needs

Boundaries of Teacher Tolerance

Within Boundaries of Teacher Tolerance:

Students who respond to teacher’s instruction = student achievement.3

Teachers feel effective; they are capable of meeting the student’s learning needs. 3

Beyond Boundaries of Teacher Tolerance:

Students who do not respond to teachers’ instruction = poor student achievement. 3

Likely to put a drain on teachers’ instructional resources and destabilize teachers’ perception of their effectiveness

Teachers develop negative attitudes toward these students in response to continual failed attempts at meeting the students learning needs. 3

Need for InterventionTeachers higher ratings of indifference and

rejection toward their included students are cause for concern.Students with disabilities need greater learning

support, not less.1

Intervention focuses on increasing the boundaries of teachers’ instructional tolerance to extend those boundaries to incorporate included students with hidden disabilities.

Teacher Tolerance

Extend S

S

SS

S

Intervention Recommendations

Classroom PracticesCommunity

Teacher Practices Consider Boundaries of Instructional Tolerance

Behavioral management strategiesUse accommodations and modificationsAccess information on disability

Learning Opportunities in the Community Oriented Classroom

Build a community oriented classroom environment to increase access to learning opportunities.

Value learning: Teachers must communicate that learning is a process and that mistakes are an inherent and expected progression.11

Move away from competition and high stakes oriented classrooms.11

Social Opportunities within a Community-Oriented

Classroom

A community oriented classroom improves peer attitudes toward students with hidden disabilities…Creates an atmosphere where everyone is welcomedIncreases contact between students12

Teacher’s role is to facilitate social interactions Empower General Education Students12

Address student concerns12

Model useful strategies to successfully communicate with students with disabilities12

Recommendations: Teacher Practices

Recommendations for teachers are centered on improving teachers’ skills…Better equipped to deal with the behavioral and

academic challenges of included students9

To deal with the overall demands of running a classroom.9

Improving Teachers’ Skill:Consultation

Teachers often neglect to make time for collaborative planning. Meaning they believe the responsibility of

problem-solving and differentiating classroom instruction and material falls entirely on themselves.2

Without the support of qualified staff, all students may suffer from the classroom teachers’ low morale and frustration.2

Improving Teachers’ Skills: Using Accommodations and

ModificationsImprove teachers’ abilities to use

modifications and accommodations to help students…Participate a fully as possibleExperience academic success.

The resources to fulfill the overwhelming lack of preservice training teachers reported.10 Teachers who lacked skills in differentiating

material encountered less success in instructing students with disabilities.9

LimitationsThere are limitations in the credibility and

external validity of the intervention. Limited literature on the implications of the

“hidden” nature of mild disabilities. Necessary to use information on topics that were

closely related, but perhaps not ideal

Necessary to make inferences and extrapolate from related studies Assertions and conclusions of the literature review and

intervention may no be entirely accurate

Future ResearchFuture research: should be aimed beyond acceptance of students with disabilities…Friendship intentionsReciprocal relationships characterized by mutual

liking and support.

Within the context of a friendship, included students may be able to improve their social skillsLeading to more frequent high quality social

interactions

Website The website is aimed at teachers to

serve as a practical and accessible resource to promote better access to social and learning opportunities for included students with mild disabilities.

http://interventionfortheinclusiveclassroom.blogspot.com/

References 1 Alves, A., & Gottlieb, J. (1986). Teacher interactions with mainstreamed handicapped students and

their nonhandicapped peers. Learning Disability Quarterly, 9(1), 77- 83.

2 Brozovic, S., Stafford, A., Alberto, P., & Taber, T. (2000). Variables considered by teachers of students with moderate and severe disabilities when making placement decisions. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 12(2), 131-144.

3Cook, B. (2001). A comparison of teachers' attitudes toward their included students with mild and severe disabilities. The Journal of Special Education, 34(4), 203-213.

4 Cook, B., & Semmel, M. (1999). Peer acceptance of included students with disabilities as a function of severity of disability and classroom composition. The Journal of Special Education, 33(1), 50-61.

5 Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (2005). The Civil Rights of Students with Hidden Disabilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Retrieved Sept. 25, 2008, from http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/hq5269.html

6 Good, T.L., & Brophy, J.E. (1972). Behavioral expression of teacher attitudes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 6, 617- 624.

7 Nowicki, E., & Sandieson, R. (2002). A meta-analysis of school-age children's attitudes towards persons with physical or intellectual disabilities. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 49(3), 243-265.

8 Osborne, A., & Dimattia, P. (1994). The IDEA's least restrictive environment mandate: Legal implications. Exceptional Children, 61(1), 6-14.

9 Smith, M. & Smith K. (2000). "I Believe in Inclusion, But...": Regular Education Early Childhood Teachers' Perceptions of Successful Inclusion. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 14(2), 161-80.

10 Stainback, S. & Stainback, W. (1992). Curriculum considerations in inclusive classrooms: Facilitating learning for all students. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

11 Whitehurst, T., & Howells, A. (2006). 'When something is different people fear it': Children's perceptions of an arts- based inclusion project. Support for Learning, 21(1), 40-44.

12 Willis (2008). Creating Inclusive Learning Environments for Young Children: What to Do on Monday Morning. Thousand Oaks, California: CorwinPress.