Children’s Beliefs about Learning and Physical Difficulties

Abstract

Beliefs about learning and physical difficulties were explored in 50 younger children (M = 5.6, SD = 1.0 years) and 50 older children (M = 9.5, SD = 1.1 years). Participants were asked why they thought some children had learning or physical difficulties and whether children with these difficulties would always have them. The majority of older children were able to generate one or more ideas about the causes of learning and physical difficulties, but 58% of the younger children did not know the causes of learning difficulties and 42% did not know the causes of physical difficulties. Younger and older children thought that learning difficulties could be overcome with increased effort on the part of parents, teachers, and child, whereas physical difficulties were believed to be beyond anyone's control. Results suggest that some aspects of children's knowledge about causes and outcomes of learning and physical difficulties are limited. Research is needed to determine whether beliefs and misconceptions about learning and physical difficulties are associated with the quantity and quality of interpersonal interactions, and to determine the sources of children's information as well as the accuracy of these sources.

“A Kid Way”: Strategies for Including Classmates With Learning or Intellectual Disabilities

“…We chose to use the term "learning difficulty" rather than more formal terms such as intellectual, developmental or leaming disabilities, autism, or pervasive developmental disorder in the interviews because it is more general in nature and reflects accessible, everyday language that children can understand (Nowicki, 2007). We were interested in finding out children's ideas on how to include any child who finds learning difficult rather than focusing on the inclusion of children with specific disabilities.…”

Children’s Structured Conceptualizations of Their Beliefs on the Causes of Learning Difficulties

“…Methodological approaches have primarily focused on eliciting explicit knowledge, such as that gathered from interviews (Glasberg, 2000;Hames, 2008;Lewis, 1993;Nowicki, 2007) or questionnaires (Ralli et al, 2011), but few have relied on recognition tasks such as forced-choice explanations (Smith & Williams, 2004).…”

“…We selected this term because it is part of children's everyday language and is more readily accessible to them than terms that have very specific, clinical definitions (Nowicki, 2007). However, in the following literature review, we retained the terminology used in each study as a way to recognize that specific terms are used in a contextualized way within and between countries.…”

Απόψεις Και Συναισθήματα Τυπικών Μαθητών Για Την Ένταξη Μαθητή Με Αναπηρία

“…Goodman, 1989 . Nowicki, 2007) και δύσκολα αλλάζει προς θετικότερη. Για το λόγο αυτό, οι πιο μικρές ηλικίες αποτελούν την καταλληλότερη ομάδα, καθώς οι στάσεις δεν είναι ακόμη στέρεα διαμορφωμένες και υπάρχει περιθώριο για αποσαφήνιση παρανοήσεων.…”