Effects of a Storytelling Program with Drama Techniques to Understand and Accept Intellectual Disability in Students 6 - 7 Years Old. A Pilot Study

Abstract

A very crucial issue in special education, as well as in education in general, is the integration itself in the educational system. Although integration oriented schools offer a wide range of opportunities for social integration, incidents of social rejection cannot always be eradicated. Given that, the knowledge and understanding of disability creates a tendency for positive attitudes toward it, the evaluation and timely implementation of specially designed awareness interventions is mandatory and it should take place to help children with and without disabilities coexist harmonically in and out of school. This study aims at determining the effect of a 12 teaching hours intervention program on the potential change in attitudes toward disability of students in the first grade of primary school. The intervention program consisted of reading and theatrical play of a story tale referring to a small turtle born with Down syndrome. The results showed a significant positive effect on the understanding and the acceptance of intellectual disability.