Evaluation of a modification of the thematic apperception test for use with physically handicapped children
✍ Scribed by Marvin Greenbaum; Thomas Qualtere; Bruce Carruth; William Cruickshank
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1953
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 435 KB
- Volume
- 9
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0021-9762
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
This study was designed to evaluate the Bachrach and Thompson(') modification,of the Murray Thematic Apperception Test ( 5 ) for use with physically handicapped children. The new series consists of twenty-three cards: fourteen new cards, seven TAT cards including the blank card, and two modifications of TAT cards. The authors of the new series state their rationale for designing the modification was similar to that used by Thompson in the development of a modified form of the TAT for a Piegro group(6). This rationale is based upon the assumption that identification should be greatest when there exists "the greatest number of symbolic elements common to the perceiver." The expectation is that if represeiitations of handicapped persons are substituted for those of physically normal persons, the identification will then be increased for handicapped subjects.
If this identification is facilitated, one should expect the handicapped child to be more productive on the new cards than he would on the original TAT cards. I n addition, one might reasonably feel that the cards would promote the production of specific reactions t o the peculiar conditions and situations which the handicap imposes upon the child in contrast to physically normal children. I n other words, to make this test of particular value for use with physically handicapped children one would expect it to produce more abundant interpretative material and also to provide material which would allow the psychologist to appreciate the specific problems which the individual faces because of his handicap. The present study is an attempt to determine the extent to whirh this new test ( I ) can be utilized in terms of the above mentioned criteria.
PROCEDURE
The subjects used in this study consisted of two groups of thirty-one children each who were obtained from a public school for exceptional children in Syracuse, Kew York. The children were all classified as orthopedically handicapped. The two groups were matched on the basis of age, sex, grade, intelligence, and type of handi-Wlp.
In control Group I there were seventeen boys and fourteen girls. The C. A. range was between 8-1 years and 18-9 years; the average age, 12-6 years. The subjects were included in grades from two to twelve, the average grade being the sixth. The range in I&, based on the California Test of Mental Maturity, was from 65 to 126, with a mean of 96.
The experimental Group I1 consisted of sixteen boys and fifteen girls who ranged in C. A. from 7-0 years to 18-4 years; the average age, 12-3 years. They ranged from grade two to grade twelve, the average grade being the sixth. The I& range was between 64 and 130 with a mean of 95.
The groups were also well matched in terms of their handicap. They were composed of children with spinal tuberculosis, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, poliomyelitis, Perthes disease, muscular atrophy, arthritis, congenital dislocated hip, deformed chest, and club foot.
*The authors wish to express thanks to A. M. Northrup, Principal, and members of the teaching Elizabeth Marmor provided invaluable assistance in the analysis of the data and in the prepara-staff of the Percy Hughes School for their cooperation during this study. tion of this report. GREENBAUM, QUALTERE, CARRUTH, AND CRUICKSHANK would be administered the pictures of the Bachrach version and whose responses would be compared to those of our two original groups. Such a study is now in progress and will be reported in the near future. BIBLIOGRAPHY