Attitudes of Special Education Teachers and School Psychologists Toward Individualized Education Plan IEPs Developed Using Traditional Assessments Versus IEPs Developed Using a Multiple Intelligence Assessment

The purpose of this research was to determine the usefulness of Multiple Intelligence for educational planning for students in special education. More specifically, this study applied the Multiple Intelligences Developmental Assessment Scales (MIDAS) to a sample of students receiving special education services who had IEPs developed using traditional assessments. A new IEP was created for the students using information obtained from the MIDAS. Subsequently, a comparison of the traditional IEP and the multiple intelligence-enhanced IEP constructed from information provided by the MIDAS was conducted with a group of special educators and school psychologists using the Multiple Intelligence in Special Education Attitudes Scale (MISEAS). The study sample consisted of 45 special educators (45.5%), 40 school psychologists (40.5%), and 14 other educators (14.0%), including those identified as education leadership counseling (6), early childhood (5), and elementary teacher education (3). An important finding of this study was research participants rated IEPs enhanced by incorporating MIDAS information higher than those IEPs based on traditional standard tests. The implication of this result is that MI enhanced IEPs may provide much more meaningful information to positively change students' academic experiences. A recommendation from this study is to disseminate the knowledge and procedures of using MI, and the MIDAS specifically, to enhance IEPs.