Integrating Children with Moderate to Severe Cognitive Deficits into a Community Museum Program

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to implement and evaluate an integrated art education program at a community museum. Nine children with moderate to severe mental retardation were grouped with 27 nonhandicapped same aged peers in a leisure activity which included gallery viewing of visual art and studio opportunities to manipulate art materials.

Through the use of time samplings and multi-variable analyses, handicapped participants’ social behaviors and interactions were analyzed. Attitudes of nonhandicapped peers were assessed from pre- to post-program using a standardized acceptance scale. Results indicated that (a) nonhandicapped peers’ attitudes toward the retarded participants changed positively and significantly (p < .05); (b) social interactions received by handicapped participants from their nonhandicapped peers increased significantly over time (p < .015); and (c) appropriate social behaviors of participants who were mentally retarded were demonstrated to be significantly greater than inappropriate behaviors in the gallery (p < .002) and studio (p < .001) envi-ronments. It is hypothesized that “key” integration methodology (e.g., “Special Friends” and volunteer advocate training; cooperative grouping arrangements) may have had a positive effect on the social integration of these children.

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