Attitudes of Special Education Teachers and School Psychologists

E-ISSN： 1447-9559|9|4|309-322

ISSN： 1447-9508

Source： The International Journal of the Humanities: Annual Review, Vol.9, Iss.4, 2012-01, pp. : 309-322

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate Special Educators and School Psychologist’s attitudes towards using Traditional Intelligence testing and Multiple Intelligence in the development of Individualized Education Programs (IEP’s). Research participants (N=99) consisted of 45 Special Educators (45.5%), 40 School Psychologist (40.5%), and 14 identifying as Other Educators (14.0%) including Education Leadership Counseling (6), Early Childhood (5), and Elementary Teacher Education (3). Participants reported a mean of 17.9 (SD=9.54) years of work experience in their field. An examination of the differences in ratings by Special Educators and School Psychologists regarding IEP’s indicated that all of the ratings of the Multiple Intelligence (MI) IEP’s were more than one point higher than the counterpart IEP’s based on traditional assessments. The greatest difference reported in ratings was MI over Traditional IEP’s concerning providing more ways for the student to succeed, where the difference was 2.18 points higher for the MI rating. Noteworthy higher ratings between MI and Traditional IEP’s were reported concerning social skills (1.92 points) and behavioral skills (1.81 points). Multiple Intelligence has been demonstrated to be beneficial to academic success. It is recommended to further investigate Special Educators and School Psychologists perceptions of using Multiple Intelligence to enhance Individualized Education Programs.