Abstract

GALVAN RUIZ, Jeanette Leticia  and  GARCIA CEDILLO, Ismael. Attitudes of the peers towards children in condition of disability. Rev. Actual. Investig. Educ [online]. 2017, vol.17, n.2, pp.214-238. ISSN 1409-4703.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/aie.v17i2.28673.

An important factor related to a successful integration of students with disabilities in general schools is their peers with no disabilities attitudes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze how integrative school environments influence the attitudes of children towards people with disabilities. In Mexico, in spite of the official discourse, the schools promote the educational integration, not the inclusive education. The research was descriptive, quantitative research was conducted with a sample of 90 students from public schools with and without Special Education support. An instrument was designed to measure the level of attitude: it is composed of a test of attitudes toward persons with disabilities with a Likert scale of three options; also, a survey was applied to evaluate contacts with persons with disabilities. The results indicate that the students from schools with Special Education support present a more favorable attitude toward people with disabilities than those schools without Special Education support. The contact with people with disabilities showed significant differences in the attitude towards those disabilities, particularly when this contact is the result of a school relationship. Also, sociodemographic variables were contrasted to identify their influence on these attitudes, such as gender, age and school level. The findings allow us to conclude that general schools can be an important factor to elicit favorable attitudes in their students to people with disabilities.

Keywords : educative integration; disabilities; attitudes; children..

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