Results of research appears to indicate that peer acceptance is vital to a successful mainstreaming process. If understanding is to be fostered in children, teachers must provide class members with opportunities for building acceptance. One highly effective and inexpensive method of building empathy and increasing the probability of peer acceptance is the use of Teletherapy

Camplese, Donald A

O\u27Bruba, William S

Sanford, Mary D

English

ScholarWorks at WMU

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy andLanguage ArtsVolume 24Issue 3 April 1984 Article 24-1-1984The Use of Teletherapy in the Mainstreaming EraWilliam S. O'BrubaBloomsburg State CollegeDonald A. CampleseBloomsburg State CollegeMary D. SanfordBloomsburg State CollegeFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizonsPart of the Education CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the SpecialEducation and Literacy Studies at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has beenaccepted for inclusion in Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy andLanguage Arts by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks at WMU. For moreinformation, please contact maira.bundza@wmich.edu.Recommended CitationO'Bruba, W. S., Camplese, D. A., & Sanford, M. D. (1984). The Use of Teletherapy in the Mainstreaming Era. Reading Horizons: AJournal of Literacy and Language Arts, 24 (3). Retrieved from https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons/vol24/iss3/2THE USE OF TELETHERAPY IN THE MAINSTREAMING ERA William S. Q'Bruba EARL Y CHILDHOOD EDUCATION BLOOMSBURG STATE COLLEGE, BLOOMSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA Donald A. Camplese DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY BLOOMSBURG STATE COLLEGE, BLOOMSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA Mary D. Sanford TEACHING THE LEARNING DISABLED BLOOMSBURG STATE COLLEGE, BLOOMSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA Once there was a little boy who was different from any of his classmates. This boy did many strange things which made other children laugh at him and call him names. The little boy was always upset when this happened. After all, he couldn't help being clumsy and slow at games. He was handicapped-why couldn't they under-stand? A modern day fairy-tale? you ask; perhaps, although the story and especially the little boy's plight are all too common in our public schools today. Since the enactment of Public Law 94-142, the mainstreaming of handicapped and non-handicapped children in the same educational setting has become a widespread practice. Despite adherence to this mandate, many handicapped students still struggle to gain understanding and acceptance among their non-handicapped peers. Peer acceptance of a handicapped child, particu-larly for elementary level students, is especially difficult. Name-calling, ridicule, or segregation by one's peers is a frequent occurrence. Inasmuch as the handicapped child is already burdened, his problems will in fact be compounded by peer rejection. Results of research appears to indicate that peer acceptance is vital to a successful mainstreaming process. Peer acceptance involves teaching students both the cognitive and affective aspects of understanding a handicapping condition. If understanding is to be fostered in children, teachers must provide class members with opportunities for building acceptance. One highly effective and inexpensi ve method of building empathy and increasing the probabili ty of peer acceptance is the use of Teletherapy. As a preventive approach, Teletherapy is a technique in which a teacher attempts to solve a child's problem by bringing the class a similar experience vicariously through stories retold from appropriate books. These stories provide children with vicarious emotional experiences through character identification. In this instance, retelling stories dealing with handicapping conditions that enable children to empathize with the handicapped child, thus increasing the probability of peer acceptance. As an educational strategy, Teletherapy is not new to the rh-159 classroom; for decades classroom teache~'s have been retelling stories to students. What is unique about Teletherapy, however, is its effectiveness in building studenl~s' empathy for one another (Camplese & O'Bruba, 1979). The first step in utilizing Teletherapy is to select a story which best meets the emotional needs of pupils. If the mainstreamed youngster has a speech impediment. for example, a story which focuses on a child with a similar problem might benefit all stu-dents. While the non-handicapped child relates to the problems of the central character-thus learning empathy, the handicapped child benefits from the lmowledge that he is not alone with his problems. As with any methodology, careful planning and story selection are vital to success. However, unlike Bibliotherapy, Teletherapy allows the teacher to select books or st~ories beyond the vocabulary and comprehension levels of students. For example, the teacher can retell the story keeping in mind both the vocabulary and compre-hension levels of the class. An additional advantage of Teletherapy would allow the teacher to restructure or recreate different cultural backgrounds, settings or experiences. For example, it is doubtful that children from rural areas could understand and relate to the special problems of a physically handicapped indi-vidual coping with mobility problems in New York City. In addition, utilizing Teletherapy allows the teacher to change the setting and the sex of the individual to meet special classroom needs and increase the probability of building empathy through character identification. After selecting an appropriate story, the second step in the Teletherapy approach is to retell the story to fit the emotion-al needs of students. Storytelling can be done in a variety of ways; the teacher may retell the story from memory to suit the comprehension levels of students or, she may read the story aloud. After retelling the story, the teacher can lead a class discussion focusing on the feelings and problems of the central character. Questions such as, "How would you feel if your classmates laughed at you?" or "How do you feel when you have trouble doing something?" can help focus student thinking on the feelings of the handicapped person. While retelling a story is easily adaptable to most classrooms, Teletherapy can be implemented in other ways. One may use cre~tive drarratics, a method especially successful when working with the older elementary level child. After selecting and retelling a story to the class, the teacher can assign students to role-play story characters. Student selection should be done with caution to avoid creating further behavior problems during the role-play. For example, while intending to build better understanding and acceptance in the Class Tease, the teacher may assign him to the role of the handicapped character. While the student I s empathy may increase from this experience, characteristics of the exper-ience may reinforce his craving for attention and increase his negative behaviors. In a situation such as this, the teacher must be willing to adopt an assert,i ve no nonsense posture concerning any possible negative characterizations. 160-rh When utilizing the creative drarrE.tics approach, the teacher can present the story in two ways. If the children lack reading "kill", the; t,e;Rrhe;r r;m hrir:fly p.xpl.-:lin t,hp. "t,nry rind rnlp.;:; t,n thr childrrn :mrl h,'lvr thrill rnlr pby their P'lrt:-',. Tn ,'lrlrlition, the story can be cast into a script format with one child or the teacher serving as narrator and others "acting" their roles. Many primary age children enthusiastically respond to creative drarrE.tics. While actively involving students in the story-telling process, creati ve drarrE.tics allows students an experience in seeing char-acters "come alive". Later, class discussions can focus on the feelings and perceptions of the students' roles. Another approach incorporating Teletherapy is the use of finger plays, which are commonly used in preschool and kindergarten classes for presenting rhymes and mini stories to children. In the early primary grades, finger plays can be used, as the teacher first selects a story involving a handicapped child, and then tells it to the class using individual finger puppets as story characters. Students can also be encouraged to combine finger puppet usage with role-playing. As children actively engage in the story, understanding and positi ve peer acceptance are both likely to increase. Teletherapy as a preventive approach is highly adaptable to a wide variety and level of classrooms. Its focus is threefold: awareness, understanding, and finally acceptance. Students enjoy-ably learn that being handicapped is not so awful. They become more aware of the similarities with themselves-and not of the differences. While students grow in their understanding of their handicapped peers, the teacher will grow as well. As in learning, the spark of understanding is the beginning of growth. Utilization of these techniques not only increases the probability of peer acceptance, but will also communicate to the class a proacti ve positive teacher attitude toward the mainstreaming process. This positive teacher attitude is the KEY to a successful mainstreaming process. 

The Use of Teletherapy in the Mainstreaming Era

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and 
Language Arts 
Volume 24 
Issue 3 April 1984 Article 2 
4-1-1984 
The Use of Teletherapy in the Mainstreaming Era 
William S. O'Bruba 
Bloomsburg State College 
Donald A. Camplese 
Bloomsburg State College 
Mary D. Sanford 
Bloomsburg State College 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons 
 Part of the Education Commons 
Recommended Citation 
O'Bruba, W. S., Camplese, D. A., & Sanford, M. D. (1984). The Use of Teletherapy in the Mainstreaming Era. 
Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts, 24 (3). Retrieved from 
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons/vol24/iss3/2 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by 
the Special Education and Literacy Studies at 
ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion 
in Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language 
Arts by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks at WMU. 
For more information, please contact wmu-
scholarworks@wmich.edu. 
THE USE OF TELETHERAPY 
IN THE MAINSTREAMING ERA 
William S. Q'Bruba 
EARL Y CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 
BLOOMSBURG STATE COLLEGE, BLOOMSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 
Donald A. Camplese 
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY 
BLOOMSBURG STATE COLLEGE, BLOOMSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 
Mary D. Sanford 
TEACHING THE LEARNING DISABLED 
BLOOMSBURG STATE COLLEGE, BLOOMSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 
Once there was a little boy who was different from any of 
his classmates. This boy did many strange things which made other 
children laugh at him and call him names. The little boy was always 
upset when this happened. After all, he couldn't help being clumsy 
and slow at games. He was handicapped-why couldn't they under-
stand? 
A modern day fairy-tale? you ask; perhaps, although the story 
and especially the little boy's plight are all too common in our 
public schools today. Since the enactment of Public Law 94-142, 
the mainstreaming of handicapped and non-handicapped children 
in the same educational setting has become a widespread practice. 
Despite adherence to this mandate, many handicapped students still 
struggle to gain understanding and acceptance among their non-
handicapped peers. Peer acceptance of a handicapped child, particu-
larly for elementary level students, is especially difficult. 
Name-calling, ridicule, or segregation by one's peers is a frequent 
occurrence. Inasmuch as the handicapped child is already burdened, 
his problems will in fact be compounded by peer rejection. 
Results of research appears to indicate that peer acceptance 
is vital to a successful mainstreaming process. Peer acceptance 
involves teaching students both the cognitive and affective aspects 
of understanding a handicapping condition. If understanding is 
to be fostered in children, teachers must provide class members 
with opportunities for building acceptance. One highly effective 
and inexpensi ve method of building empathy and increasing the 
probabili ty of peer acceptance is the use of Teletherapy. As a 
preventive approach, Teletherapy is a technique in which a teacher 
attempts to solve a child's problem by bringing the class a similar 
experience vicariously through stories retold from appropriate 
books. These stories provide children with vicarious emotional 
experiences through character identification. In this instance, 
retelling stories dealing with handicapping conditions that enable 
children to empathize with the handicapped child, thus increasing 
the probability of peer acceptance. 
As an educational strategy, Teletherapy is not new to the 
rh-159 
classroom; for decades classroom teache~'s have been retelling 
stories to students. What is unique about Teletherapy, however, 
is its effectiveness in building studenl~s' empathy for one another 
(Camplese & O'Bruba, 1979). 
The first step in utilizing Teletherapy is to select a story 
which best meets the emotional needs of pupils. If the mainstreamed 
youngster has a speech impediment. for example, a story which 
focuses on a child with a similar problem might benefit all stu-
dents. While the non-handicapped child relates to the problems 
of the central character-thus learning empathy, the handicapped 
child benefits from the lmowledge that he is not alone with his 
problems. 
As with any methodology, careful planning and story selection 
are vital to success. However, unlike Bibliotherapy, Teletherapy 
allows the teacher to select books or st~ories beyond the vocabulary 
and comprehension levels of students. For example, the teacher 
can retell the story keeping in mind both the vocabulary and compre-
hension levels of the class. An additional advantage of Teletherapy 
would allow the teacher to restructure or recreate different 
cultural backgrounds, settings or experiences. For example, it 
is doubtful that children from rural areas could understand and 
relate to the special problems of a physically handicapped indi-
vidual coping with mobility problems in New York City. In addition, 
utilizing Teletherapy allows the teacher to change the setting 
and the sex of the individual to meet special classroom needs 
and increase the probability of building empathy through character 
identification. 
After selecting an appropriate story, the second step in 
the Teletherapy approach is to retell the story to fit the emotion-
al needs of students. Storytelling can be done in a variety of 
ways; the teacher may retell the story from memory to suit the 
comprehension levels of students or, she may read the story aloud. 
After retelling the story, the teacher can lead a class discussion 
focusing on the feelings and problems of the central character. 
Questions such as, "How would you feel if your classmates laughed 
at you?" or "How do you feel when you have trouble doing something?" 
can help focus student thinking on the feelings of the handicapped 
person. 
While retelling a story is easily adaptable to most classrooms, 
Teletherapy can be implemented in other ways. One may use cre~tive 
drarratics, a method especially successful when working with the 
older elementary level child. After selecting and retelling a 
story to the class, the teacher can assign students to role-play 
story characters. Student selection should be done with caution 
to avoid creating further behavior problems during the role-play. 
For example, while intending to build better understanding and 
acceptance in the Class Tease, the teacher may assign him to the 
role of the handicapped character. While the student I s empathy 
may increase from this experience, characteristics of the exper-
ience may reinforce his craving for attention and increase his 
negative behaviors. In a situation such as this, the teacher must 
be willing to adopt an assert,i ve no nonsense posture concerning 
any possible negative characterizations. 
160-rh 
When utilizing the creative drarrE.tics approach, the teacher 
can present the story in two ways. If the children lack reading 
"kill", the; t,e;Rrhe;r r;m hrir:fly p.xpl.-:lin t,hp. "t,nry rind rnlp.;:; t,n 
thr childrrn :mrl h,'lvr thrill rnlr pby their P'lrt:-',. Tn ,'lrlrlition, 
the story can be cast into a script format with one child or the 
teacher serving as narrator and others "acting" their roles. Many 
primary age children enthusiastically respond to creative drarrE.tics. 
While actively involving students in the story-telling process, 
creati ve drarrE.tics allows students an experience in seeing char-
acters "come alive". Later, class discussions can focus on the 
feelings and perceptions of the students' roles. 
Another approach incorporating Teletherapy is the use of 
finger plays, which are commonly used in preschool and kindergarten 
classes for presenting rhymes and mini stories to children. In 
the early primary grades, finger plays can be used, as the teacher 
first selects a story involving a handicapped child, and then 
tells it to the class using individual finger puppets as story 
characters. Students can also be encouraged to combine finger 
puppet usage with role-playing. As children actively engage in 
the story, understanding and positi ve peer acceptance are both 
likely to increase. 
Teletherapy as a preventive approach is highly adaptable 
to a wide variety and level of classrooms. Its focus is threefold: 
awareness, understanding, and finally acceptance. Students enjoy-
ably learn that being handicapped is not so awful. They become 
more aware of the similarities with themselves-and not of the 
differences. While students grow in their understanding of their 
handicapped peers, the teacher will grow as well. As in learning, 
the spark of understanding is the beginning of growth. Utilization 
of these techniques not only increases the probability of peer 
acceptance, but will also communicate to the class a proacti ve 
positive teacher attitude toward the mainstreaming process. This 
positive teacher attitude is the KEY to a successful mainstreaming 
process. 


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