A sociometric comparison of mainstreamed, orthopedically handicapped high school students and nonhandicapped classmates

✍ Scribed by Roberto Flores de Apodaca; Jan Mueller; Janice D. Watson; June Isaacson-Kailes

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1985
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 498 KB
• Volume: 22
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0033-3085
• DOI: 10.1002/1520-6807(198501)22:1<95::aid-pits2310220119>3.0.co;2-g

✦ Synopsis

This study explored the sociometric status of orthopedically handicapped (OH) high school students in mainstreamed classrooms. Twenty-nine students in mainstreamed classrooms (e.g., spina bifida or other paralysis, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy) were compared with randomly selected classmates on the Peer Rating Scale (PRS), a class-administered sociometric scale. The OH group received significantly higher scores on 2 of 12 PRS factors, as well as directionally higher scores on 8 others. These were interpreted as reflecting either genuine liking and admiration for mainstreamed OH high school students or, alternatively, a "defensive" inability on the part of peers to express base-rate negative feelings toward the orthopedically handicapped. Recommendations for future research are made.