Changing the Attitudes of Learning Disabled Children through Bibliotherapy

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if bibliotherapy is an effective means of improving the reading attitudes of learning disabled children. The sample consisted of nineteen children, ages nine to thirteen years old, designated as learning disabled according to federal guidelines. The subjects were from two self-contained, special education classes in an urban school district. Nine of the students were randomly assigned to the control group and the remaining ten students were assigned to the experimental group. All subjects were pretested using the Sartain Reading Attitudes Inventory. This same instrument was used as an initial posttest and a long term posttest. The experimental group met for three, thirty minute sessions per week for ten weeks. In each session, a ten minute passage or story was read aloud to the group and discussed. The initial posttest was administered at the conclusion of the ten week therapy program. The long term effects of the therapy were assessed ten weeks after the conclusion of the therapy program. The data were analyzed using an analysis of variance repeated measures design. Results indicated that there was no significant difference in the reading attitudes of the experimental group after bibliotherapy. The implications of this study for further research were discussed as were the classroom applications of bibliotherapy.