In an urban, midwestern public school, six children, ages 8-10 years old, engaged in ten weeks of Integrated Play Groups (IPGs) to teach skills to students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Lasting two and a half months, IPGs met for 30 minutes, twice weekly. The participants engaged in pre- and post-tests of the revised Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes Towards Children with Handicaps scale and pre- and post-focus groups. These means were used to investigate the research question: What can be learned about typical peers’ attitudes and acceptance of students with ASD through the expert players’ reflections on Integrated Play Group involvement? The quantitative measures revealed trends towards increased acceptance of the children with ASD, but without statistical significance. The qualitative methods exposed a positive lived experience of the IPGs with a powerful change in attitudes towards the children with ASD. Future research will be beneficial to expand upon this study.
","abstract_html":"<p>In an urban, midwestern public school, six children, ages 8-10 years old, engaged in ten weeks of Integrated Play Groups (IPGs) to teach skills to students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Lasting two and a half months, IPGs met for 30 minutes, twice weekly. The participants engaged in pre- and post-tests of the revised Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes Towards Children with Handicaps scale and pre- and post-focus groups. These means were used to investigate the research question: What can be learned about typical peers’ attitudes and acceptance of students with ASD through the expert players’ reflections on Integrated Play Group involvement? The quantitative measures revealed trends towards increased acceptance of the children with ASD, but without statistical significance. The qualitative methods exposed a positive lived experience of the IPGs with a powerful change in attitudes towards the children with ASD. Future research will be beneficial to expand upon this study.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Toon, Karen Kay"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Open Access Thesis","degree_discipline":"Health Sciences","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Elizabeth B. Francis, Ph.D., OTR/L, FAOTA, Chair","Gretchen Dahl Reeves, Ph.D., OT, FAOTA"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2010,"date_issued":"2010-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2010-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:16:36Z","subjects":["autism","Integrated Play Group","typical peers","children","acceptance","attitudes","CATCH","focus group","Child Psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.emich.edu/theses/285","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Elizabeth B. Francis, Ph.D., OTR/L, FAOTA, Chair","Gretchen Dahl Reeves, Ph.D., OT, FAOTA"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Toon, Karen Kay"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2010-11-18T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Health Sciences"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["autism","Integrated Play Group","typical peers","children","acceptance","attitudes","CATCH","focus group","Child Psychology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/285"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In an urban, midwestern public school, six children, ages 8-10 years old, engaged in ten weeks of Integrated Play Groups (IPGs) to teach skills to students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Lasting two and a half months, IPGs met for 30 minutes, twice weekly. The participants engaged in pre- and post-tests of the revised Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes Towards Children with Handicaps scale and pre- and post-focus groups. These means were used to investigate the research question: What can be learned about typical peers’ attitudes and acceptance of students with ASD through the expert players’ reflections on Integrated Play Group involvement? The quantitative measures revealed trends towards increased acceptance of the children with ASD, but without statistical significance. The qualitative methods exposed a positive lived experience of the IPGs with a powerful change in attitudes towards the children with ASD. Future research will be beneficial to expand upon this study.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Typically developing children’s attitudes and acceptance of children with autism spectrum disorder after integrated play group involvement"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Elizabeth B. Francis, Ph.D., OTR/L, FAOTA, Chair","Gretchen Dahl Reeves, Ph.D., OT, FAOTA"],"dc:creator":["Toon, Karen Kay"],"dc:date.available":["2010-11-18T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["In an urban, midwestern public school, six children, ages 8-10 years old, engaged in ten weeks of Integrated Play Groups (IPGs) to teach skills to students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Lasting two and a half months, IPGs met for 30 minutes, twice weekly. The participants engaged in pre- and post-tests of the revised Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes Towards Children with Handicaps scale and pre- and post-focus groups. These means were used to investigate the research question: What can be learned about typical peers’ attitudes and acceptance of students with ASD through the expert players’ reflections on Integrated Play Group involvement? The quantitative measures revealed trends towards increased acceptance of the children with ASD, but without statistical significance. The qualitative methods exposed a positive lived experience of the IPGs with a powerful change in attitudes towards the children with ASD. Future research will be beneficial to expand upon this study.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/285"],"dc:subject":["autism","Integrated Play Group","typical peers","children","acceptance","attitudes","CATCH","focus group","Child Psychology"],"dc:title":["Typically developing children’s attitudes and acceptance of children with autism spectrum disorder after integrated play group involvement"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Health Sciences"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:16:36Z"}