CO-PAS: AN ADLERIAN-BASED PROGRAM FOR PREPARING PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED PRESCHOOL CHILDREN FOR MAINSTREAMING.

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the efficacy of the CO-PAS (Co-operative Preschool Accelerated Socialization) program, an Adlerian-based program for preparing physically handicapped non-retarded preschool children for mainstreaming. Specifically, this study investigated the effectiveness of the program (a) in changing parental attitudes toward their child's behavior; (b) in increasing the range of productive social behaviors and school-readiness socialization behaviors, and (c) level of social maturity of each child. Research questions were formulated; data were collected on each of four dependent measures. The subjects of this study were the 16 children who met the criteria for entry into the CO-PAS program, and their families. The study consisted of a two-group pretest-posttest research design, which was used to compare the effectiveness of Adlerian Family Counseling combined with Adlerian Parent Education, with Adlerian Family Counseling alone. The subjects were divided into two treatment groups. Group 1 received Adlerian Family Counseling only (25 hours treatment); Group 2 received Adlerian Family Counseling, plus an additional nine hours of Adlerian Parent Education (34 hours treatment). All 16 children were also enrolled in public preschools, five mornings a week for the duration of the treatment. Four scales were administered to each of the families prior to treatment, and again following completion of treatment: the Adlerian Parental Assessment of Child Behavior Scale, the Social Interest Scale for Children, the Vineland Social Maturity Scale and the Socialization subscale of the Arizona Behavior Analysis Criterion Utilization Scale. The four measures were found to possess adequate reliability and validity. One-way ANOVAs were computed to obtain between group comparisons for pretest equivalence; no significant differences were found. Analyses of covariance were computed to obtain between treatment comparisons; no significant differences were found. One-way repeated-measures ANOVAs were computed on each measure to test for treatment effects. Results indicated that there were significant improvements in parental perceptions of child behavior (p < .0001), in children's repertoires of productive social behaviors (p < .0001) and school-readiness socialization behaviors (p < .0004), and in children's levels of social maturity (p < .0001). It was concluded that the CO-PAS program had largely been effective in meeting its goals.