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‘If I had a friend in a wheelchair’: children's thoughts on disabilities
Author(s) -
Tamm M,
Prellwitz M
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
child: care, health and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.832
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2214
pISSN - 0305-1862
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2214.2001.00156.x
Subject(s) - wheelchair , semantic differential , recreation , psychology , developmental psychology , projective test , class (philosophy) , artificial intelligence , world wide web , computer science , political science , psychoanalysis , law
Summary The purpose of the present study was to examine what notions there are among ordinary preschool children and schoolchildren about physically handicapped children using wheelchairs. Forty‐eight children–16 children of preschool age (half boys, half girls, aged around 6), 16 children in primary school class 2 (half boys, half girls, aged around 8) and 16 children in class 4 (half boys, half girls, aged around 8)–constituted the investigated group. The method used was a combination of drawings produced by the children themselves serving as a projective image, interview questions in connection with the drawings and a self‐assessment scale, based on Osgood's semantic differential technique. The results showed that most children had favourable attitudes towards a child in a wheelchair. They were willing to include the disabled child in their games and recreational activities, and they considered that the disabled child would have many friends and a high self‐esteem. However, they saw real obstacles for the disabled child both in play situations and in other environmental settings. No tangible differences between the sexes could be found; however, differences by age were present. The results were discussed with regard to earlier research and topics for further research are suggested.