Isaac Scientific Publishing

Journal of Advances in Education Research

Personal Contact through Personal Narratives: Attitudes of Fifth-Grade Children toward Children Who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Download PDF (307.5 KB) PP. 148 - 157 Pub. Date: August 1, 2018

DOI: 10.22606/jaer.2018.33003

Author(s)

  • Laura M.D. Smucker
    Meeting St. Early Intervention, Providence, RI, United States
  • John W. McCarthy*
    Communication Sciences and Disorders, Ohio University, Athens, OH, United States
  • Joann P. Benigno
    Communication Sciences and Disorders, Ohio University, Athens, OH, United States
  • Jamie B. Boster
    Communication Sciences and Disorders, Ohio University, Athens, OH, United States

Abstract

There is a lack of interventions to understand and change attitudes of school-age children toward peers with severe speech and physical disabilities. The effect of reading a first-person narrative on the attitudes of 66 fifth-grade children toward individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) was investigated using a quasi-experimental design. Children were randomly assigned to either an experimental narrative condition (n = 37) or a control non-fiction, nondisability condition (n = 29). Children’s prior experience with individuals with disabilities and their biological sex had significant effects, with girls and those with previous experience having more positive attitudes than boys and those with no previous experience. Pre/post differences highlighted the potentially reactive nature of attitude testing. Reading the narrative did not lead to significant differences between groups in mean attitudes, but qualitative analyses revealed that the narrative led to a more comprehensive view of people with severe communication challenges and highlighting the misconceptions that many school-age children might have toward individuals with severe communication challenges.

Keywords

Attitudes, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), children, personal narrative.

References

[1] Siperstein, G. N., Norins, J., & Mohler, A. (2007). Social acceptance and attitude change: Fifty years of research. In J. W. Jacobson, J. A. Mulick, & J. Rojahn (Eds.), Handbook of intellectual and developmental disabilities (pp. 133-154). New York: Springer.

[2] Beck, A., Kingsbury, K., Neff, A., & Dennis, M. (2000). Influence of length of augmented message on children's attitudes toward peers who use augmentative and alternative communication. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 16, 239-249.

[3] Williamson, P., McLeskey, J., Hoppey D., Rentz T. (2006). Educating students with mental retardation in general education classrooms. Exceptional Children, 72(3), 347-361.

[4] Beck (2009) Insert citation

[5] Moore, D. & Nettelbeck, T. (2013). Effects of a short-term disability awareness training on attitudes of adolescent schoolboys toward persons with a disability. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, (38)3, 223-231.

[6] Macmillan, M., Tarrant, M., Abraham, C., & Morris, C. (2014). The association between children's contact with people with disabilities and their attitudes towards disability: a systematic review. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 56, 529-546.

[7] Pettigrew, T. F., & Tropp, L. R. (2006). A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 751-783.

[8] Cameron & Rutland (2008). An integrative approach to changing children's intergroup attitudes. In Intergroup attitudes and relations in childhood through adulthood. (pp. 191-203). New York, NY, US: Oxford University

[9] Mike Clarke, Helen McConachie, Katie Price and Pam Wood. (2001) Views of young people using augmentative and alternative communication systems. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders (36)1, 107-115.

[10] De Boer, A., Pijl, S.J., & Minnaert, A. (2012). Students' attitudes towards peers with disabilities: a review of the literature. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, (59)4, 379-392.

[11] McCarthy, J., & Light, J. (2005). Attitudes toward individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication: Research review. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 21, 41-55.

[12] Beck, A., & Fritz-Verticchio, H. (2003). The influence of information and role-playing experiences on children’s attitudes toward peers who use AAC. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 12, 51-60.

[13] McCarthy, J., W., Donofrio-Horowitz, L. M., & Smucker, L. M. D. (2010). The effects of reading personal narratives written by an individual who uses AAC on the attitudes of pre-professionals in business. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 26(2), 61-74.

[14] Dal Cin, S., Zanna, M., & Fong, G. (2004). Narrative persuasion and overcoming resistance. In E. Knowles & J. Linn (Eds.), Resistance and persuasion (pp. 175-191). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

[15] Wright, S. C., Aron, A., McLaughlin-Volpe, T., & Ropp, S. A. (1997). The extended contact effect: Knowledge of cross-group friendships and prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(1), 73-90.

[16] Cameron, L. & Rutland, A. (2006) Extended contact through story reading in school: Reducing children’s prejudice towards the disabled. Journal of Social Issues, 62, 469 – 488.

[17] Cameron, L., Rutland, A., Turner, R., Blake, B., Holman-Nicolas, R., & Powell, C. (2011). Changing attitudes with a little imagination': Imagined contact effects on young children's intergroup bias. Anales de Psicologia, 27(3), 708-717.

[18] Lee, T., & Rodda, M. (1994). Modification of attitudes toward people with disabilities. Canadian Journal of Rehabilitation, 7(4), 229-238.

[19] Shaver, J., Curtis, C., Jesunathada, J., & Strong, C. (1989). The modification of attitudes toward persons with disabilities: Is there a best way? International Journal of Special Education, 4, 33-57.

[20] Beck, A., Fritz, H., Keller, A., & Dennis, M. (2000). Attitudes of school-aged children toward their peers who use augmentative and alternative communication. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 16, 13-26.

[21] Lemler, K., & Gemmel, S. (1997). Kathrin Talks with her Eyes. Kevelaer: Verlag Butzon and Bercker.

[22] McNulty, F. (2005). If you decide to go to the moon. New York: Scholastic Press.

[23] Vaughn, S., Schumm, J. S., & Sinagub, J. (1996). Focus group interviews in education and psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

[24] Cameron, L., Rutland, A. & Brown, R. (2007) Promoting children's positive intergroup attitudes towards stigmatized groups: Extended contact and multiple classification skills training. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 31, 454 – 466. communication.

[25] Blockberger, S., Armstrong, R., O'Connor, A., & Freeman, R. (1993). Children's attitudes toward a nonspeaking child using various augmentative and alternative communication techniques. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 9, 243-250.

[26] Gorenflo, C., & Gorenflo, D. (1991). The effects of information and augmentative communication technique on attitudes toward nonspeaking individuals. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 34,

[27] Beck, A.R. (2009). Attitudes toward children and teens who use AAC: Have they changed in 20 years? Perspectives on Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 18, 96-102.

[28] Solomon, R. (1968). A control group design for experimental students of the developmental processes. Psychological Bulletin, 70(3), 145-150.

[29] Kent-Walsh, J., & McNaughton, D. (2005). Communication partner instruction in AAC: present practices and future directions. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 21(3), 195-204.