Book Description

Abstract: The inclusion of students with various disabilities in general physical education has become increasingly common in schools. Within the context of physical education, inclusion has been defined as a philosophical perspective that advocates the placement of all students with varied abilities and disabilities (mild to severe) into classes with peers in their neighborhood schools (Block, 2000; Hodge, Murata, Kozub, and Sherrill, in-review). However, there is limited research concerning the attitudes of students with and without disabilities towards each other relative to inclusion in physical education. The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes and behaviors of 6th grade students with and without disabilities relative to being educated in an inclusionary physical education program. Participants were students with disabilities (_n = 2) and students without disabilities (_n = 16) from a rural middle school in Midwestern Ohio. Contact theory's structured contact variables (Allport, 1954; Sherrill, Heikinaro-Johansson, Slininger, 1994) served as the theoretical frame for this study. Data collection and triangulation involved both quantitative and qualitative methods. Overall, findings suggest that students with and without disabilities exhibited positive attitudes and behaviors towards one another within an inclusionary physical education program. More specifically, responses to the Children's Attitudes Toward Integrated Physical Education (Block, 1995) attitudinal instrument revealed that students without disabilities held positive attitudes toward including peers with disabilities (i.e., mental retardation and physical disability). In support of this finding, the Analysis of Inclusion Practices in Physical Education (Hodge et al., 2000) behavioral observation instrument showed that when interactions did occur, students with and without disabilities mostly interacted in appropriate ways. In addition, responses to The Inventory (Webb, 2000) attitudinal scale indicated that students with disabilities (i.e., a girl with mental retardation and a boy with a physical disability) held favorable attitudes towards their peers without disabilities. Again, this finding was supported by themes that emerged from semi-structured interviews suggesting that positive relationships and interactions did occur between students with and without disabilities, and their teachers. Overall findings in this study lend support to contact theory's structural contact variables (Sherrill et al., 1994). Importantly, this study allowed us to gain additional insight regarding the attitudes and behaviors of students with and without disabilities toward one another in an inclusive physical education program.