Disclosing information about epilepsy and type 1 diabetes mellitus: The effect on teachers' understanding of classroom behavior

in an analog study, 122 continuing education and preservice teachers rated potential sources of one of two students' classroom problems. One student's behavior, described in a cumulative folder and a videotaped teacher/school psychologist conference, matched the symptoms of epilepsy, the other matched the symptoms of type I diabetes mellitus. Neither source of information, however, directly linked the student's behavior with his/her health. Providing increasing levels of disease-related information promoted recognition that these students' classroom problems were attributable to health factors (chi(2) = 26.5, p < .001 for the total sample; chi(2) = 13.4, p = .001 for continuing education teachers; chi(2) = 14.0, p = .001 for preservice teachers). When no disease-related information was disclosed, only 2.6% of participants rated "health factors" as the most likely source of classroom difficulties, compared to 16.6% when a diagnosis was disclosed, and 50.0% when both a diagnosis and a list of disease-specific classroom manifestations were provided. Teachers who correctly selected health factors indicated high levels of confidence in their ratings. Findings imply that disclosing health information may help teachers avoid incorrect, counterproductive explanations for classroom problems.