Normal and exceptional children's attitudes toward themselves and one another

In this study 65 junior high school boys and girls (54 normal and 11 exceptional children) evaluated themselves most favorably, normal children as a group less favorably, and exceptional children as a group least favorable of all on the Personal Attribute Inventory for Children. This was so regardless of whether the respondents were normal or exceptional children. Since data were collected from mainstreamed classrooms, it appears that mainstreaming may not be directly deleterious to exceptional children's self-concepts, but has associated with it a negative stigma for exceptional children as a group for both exceptional and normal children. These findings, plus others reported previously, fail to demonstrate that mainstreaming in its present form may be an elixir for exceptional children's social-emotional difficulties.