In order to educate children with disabilities effectively, we should not have any predudice and discrimination in environment where the children without disabilities learn and live. Even if a nation aids physical and human resources to secure the edu...
In order to educate children with disabilities effectively, we should not have any predudice and discrimination in environment where the children without disabilities learn and live. Even if a nation aids physical and human resources to secure the education for children with disabilities, integrated education is an impossible dream if children without disabilities can't understand children with disabilities fully. For these reasons, there are many studies on the changes in children without disabilities of attitudes improvement toward the children with disabilities through Disability-Awareness program. The purpose of this study is to find the Disability-Awareness program's influence on attitudes of children without disabilities toward children with disabilities. And what is important is that we make children without disabilities to accept the disability just as a individual difference and to respect alien existence.Methodologically, we constructed Disability-Awareness program that
focused on the attitude improvement method of comprehension-centered.
After put into operation, we conducted a post test to find the differences between before and after. We studied a class of thirty six 5th grade with no children with disabilities at O elementary school in Gwang-ju. We performed it weekly for 9 weeks in creative optional activity classes according to the procedures: a pre-test - operation of Disability-Awareness program - a post test.
We used a receptivity measure and activity preference measure to find the Disability-Awareness program's influence on children without disabilities of attitudes toward children with disabilities.
The results of the study are as follows:
First, 'Disability-Awareness Program' had a positive influence on children without disabilities of receptivity attitudes toward children with disabilities positively in the all items of 4 receptivity measure.
Second, 'Disability-Awareness Program' had a positive influence on children without disabilities of activity preference toward children with disabilities. There are significant differences in the all items of activity preference, so we can know that children without disabilities didn't avoid children with disabilities as much as before.
Because 'Disability-Awareness Program' had a positive influence on children without disabilities of attitudes toward children with disabilities, we can use it in the disability comprehension education for children without disabilities of. In following studies, it is necessary to develop and apply the systematic and various Disability-Awareness Program in optional activity classes for many grades.