University Students’ Perceptions of an Inclusive Music Production

Abstract

A total of 130 undergraduate and graduate music education and music therapy students watched a videotape of elementary children with cerebral palsy (CP) and typical peers preparing and performing in a musical production. The focus of the video was on preparation for inclusion, inclusive interactions, and the performance. Four questions addressing inclusion that required written responses from participants were posed. Responses were categorized for comparisons. Results indicated no significant difference due to training (music therapy majors, music education majors with and without class discussions on inclusion; p > .05). All groups focused on social more than academic benefits for all children. Participants noted the following: benefit of being in a musical play for the children with CP, that children without CP benefited from exposure to information about the disability, that children with CP gained from interacting with typical peers and from making a new friend, and many of the techniques teachers used to prepare students for successful inclusion. More than a third were concerned that their future students would not accept children with disabilities in the classroom or that children with disabilities would be incapable. There is an apparent inability to make the transfer of using the identified teaching techniques to enable their own future efforts at inclusion to be successful.