Combined descriptive and explanatory information improves peers' perceptions of autism

Determinants of students' attitudes towards peers with disabilities

AIM

To explore factors associated with students' attitudes towards their peers with disabilities.

METHOD

All 7th grade students (aged 12-13y) from 12 schools in the Toulouse area were invited to participate (n=1509). Attitudes were measured using the Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes Towards Children with Handicaps (CATCH) questionnaire (affective, behavioural, cognitive, and total scores). Personal characteristics, including KIDSCREEN quality of life scores, were recorded. Data regarding information about disabilities received from parents and the media and acquaintance with people with disabilities constituted the 'disability knowledge' factors. The characteristics of the schools were obtained from the local education authority. Multivariate multilevel linear regression analyses were conducted to explore the associations between CATCH scores and these three groups of factors.

RESULTS

Responses from 1135 students (612 females, 523 males; mean age 12y 8mo SD 7mo; age range 10y 8mo-15y) were studied (75.2% of the students approached). Factors independently associated with more positive attitudes were being a female, having a good quality of life, being friends with a child with disabilities, or having received information about disabilities from parents and the media. Presence in the school of a special class for children with cognitive disabilities was independently associated with more negative attitudes.

INTERPRETATION

This cross-sectional study identified different personal and environmental factors upon which interventions aimed at improving students' attitudes towards their peers with disabilities could be based.

Brief report: sociometric status and behavioral characteristics of peer nominated buddies for a child with autism

We examined social and behavioral correlates of children selected by their peers to serve as peer buddies for an unfamiliar child with autism (CWA). Participants were 293 children from two public elementary schools who completed social status, behavioral, and peer buddy nomination measures. Peer buddy nominations for a CWA were related to: (a) perceived unpopularity; (b) being viewed as helpful and smart; and (c) lacking influence regarding popularity within the classroom. In contrast, peer buddy nominations for a typical boy were related to being viewed as popular, helpful, and self-confident. Students may select a social niche for CWA based on principles of peer homophily. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Teachers' peer buddy selections for children with autism: social characteristics and relationship with peer nominations

We examined social and behavioral characteristics of children selected by their teachers to serve as peer buddies for a child with autism. Thirty-one general education teachers and 576 children from five public elementary schools completed social status, behavioral, and peer buddy nomination measures. When compared to non-selected students, teacher selected buddies were: (a) more often boys, (b) popular, and (c) viewed as prosocial leaders by their peers. Agreement between teacher and peer nominations of social status and behavioral characteristics ranged from low to high; agreement between teacher and peer selected buddies was moderate.

Information source affects peers' initial attitudes toward autism

Authors examined the effects of information source on peers' cognitive and behavioral attitudes toward an unfamiliar child with autism. Children (N=296; M age=10.21 years) received information about an unfamiliar child with autism from one of the following sources: (a) videotape, (b) teacher, (c) hypothetical mother, (d) hypothetical father, or (e) hypothetical "doctor." Interactive effects between source, and sex and grade were found for cognitive and behavioral attitudes. Fifth-graders reported more favorable cognitive and behavioral attitudes when information was provided by extra-familial sources (i.e., "doctor") versus parent sources. Mother yielded more persuasive effects on behavioral attitudes for third-graders versus fifth-graders. Attitudes toward autism differ depending on who provides information about the disability. Persuasion theory appears useful to guide evaluation of educational interventions to improve attitudes towards autism. Implications of the findings, study limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Measuring children's attitudes towards peers with disabilities: a review of instruments

This study aimed to identify instruments for measuring children's attitudes towards their peers with disabilities that are suitable for use in epidemiological studies and to report on their psychometric properties. A literature review was conducted to identify instruments measuring at least one of the three components of children's attitudes (affective, behavioural, or cognitive measures) towards peers with disabilities and which are intended for self-completion by children. Criteria used to appraise these instruments were appropriateness, acceptability, validity, reliability, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability. Of the 19 instruments matching the inclusion criteria, 16 measured only one attitude component (affective, n=4; behavioural, n=5; cognitive, n=7); one measured cognitive and behavioural components; and two (Acceptance Scale and Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes Towards Children with Handicaps Scale [CATCH]) measured all three components. The majority of instruments, and those most widely used, were developed in the 1970s and 80s and so do not cover some aspects relevant to current culture, although they are still being used in research. Acceptable levels of validity and reliability were reported. Detailed descriptions of the initial validation process were available for the Acceptance Scale, Adjective Checklist, CATCH, and Peer Attitudes Towards the Handicapped Scale. The Acceptance Scale and CATCH seem to be the most complete instruments among those identified as they include all three attitude components and have appropriate psychometric properties.

Adult attitudes toward behaviors of a six-year-old boy with autism

Parents report that their children with autism are often judged as undisciplined and rude (e.g., Peeters, Autism: From theoretical understanding to educational intervention, 1997). The phenomenon of a negative view of individuals with autism was studied here. Four behaviors (two problematic and two non-problematic) produced by a six-year-old child with autism were assessed on social, emotional, and cognitive dimensions by 88 adults in an "informed" or "uninformed" condition. The child was perceived more positively when identified as having autism. However, this effect was dependent on the type of behavior and the evaluative dimension used. The results indicate that the mere fact of being informed of a child's disability triggers the use of a different standard of comparison than that employed to evaluate typical children (Mussweiler and Strack, J Pers Soc Psychol 78:1038-1052, 2000).