The social and emotional development of students is one of the important goals of inclusive education. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the multidimensional social ...and emotional competencies of students with special educational needs (SEN), with a focus on identifying the areas in which they achieve the highest and lowest levels of proficiency. Furthermore, it will be investigated whether there are gender differences in the social and emotional competencies of students with SEN, and differences in comparison to students without SEN. This research is based on the CASEL conceptual framework of social and emotional learning. A random sample of teachers (N = 54) assess the social and emotional competencies of both students with SEN (N = 54) and students without SEN (N = 54) with Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA). Participants completed questionnaires online in spring of 2021. The results show that students with SEN exhibit the highest level of competence in relationship skills and optimistic thinking, whereas the lowest level of competence is found in goal‐directed behaviour and self‐management. There were no discernible gender differences observed in the social and emotional competences of students with SEN. Compared to students without SEN, they exhibit statistically significant lower levels of every social and emotional competency. The findings indicate the necessity of implementing interventions targeting goal‐directed behaviours and self‐management of students with SEN.
Peer interaction of children with ADHD is often burdened by failure that is reflected in the low acceptance of these children by their peers, a very limited number of friends, low quality friendships ...and a higher incidence of involvement in bullying. In order to better understand the social interactions in this population, this paper presents the contemporary knowledge about the characteristics of the behaviour of children and adolescents with ADHD, which include distracting / inappropriate social behaviour, communication features, socio-cognitive difficulties and deficits in social problems solving and emotional dysregulation. Recent findings on predictors of peer acceptance of children with ADHD are creating new possibilities for action. Special attention was paid to the issue of bullying. The paper presents current concepts of knowledge in the context of typical children and young people, children and youth with disabilities and with ADHD. Compared to typical children, those with disabilities are frequently involved in bullying and are highly represented in the population of victims. Studies show that ADHD symptoms and bullying are significantly related. The conducted research clearly points to the increasing prevalence of children with ADHD among the victims of bullying, but also among the perpetrators, and provocative victims compared with typical peers. This paper seeks to highlight the importance of the research of peer interaction of children and youth with ADHD and provide a boost to such research, with particular emphasis on bullying. The paper gives some guidelines for the design and implementation of prevention and intervention programs tailored to the population of children with ADHD. Adapted from the source document.
The aim of the study was to explore Croatian and Polish teachers’ opinions on quality of inclusive education. A sample of 173 teachers from Poland and 139 from Croatia completed the Scale on Quality ...Indicators for Inclusion – for Teachers. In general, teachers reported positive assessments of inclusion quality. Respondents from both countries gave highest ratings on the subscale Support monitoring and evaluation, while the lowest ratings were given on the subscale Teaching assistant support by Polish participants and on the subscale Resources for inclusive education by the Croatian sample. Poland teachers gave higher ratings than Croatian teachers on all the subscales except Teaching assistant support. The discussion makes an attempt to present how two different societal contexts shape the development and implementation of inclusion.
Inclusion of children with disabilities into the regular education system has undoubtedly increased the number of social interactions between children with and without disability. However, most ...previous research suggests a low acceptance of children with disabilities in the peer environment. Lower levels of social acceptance can affect the development of friendship as the most important relationship with peers. This paper summarizes the results of the research of positive peer interactions of children with disabilities, acceptance and friendship with typical children as well as with children who also have disabilities. Children with disabilities, unlike typical peers, often experience greater difficulty in creating and maintaining friendships. Delayed development of motor, perceptual, cognitive, language, communication and / or social skills is likely to contribute to the difficulties of children with disabilities in creating lasting friendships. This paper provides an overview of scientific knowledge about the effectiveness of the researched strategies for social acceptance, development and maintenance of friendship. . Adapted from the source document.
In last two decades family quality of life studies were oriented to families with disabilities. International teams of experts created measuring tools for this field. The aim of this study is to ...investigate quality of life in families with disabilities with focus on correlation of values, interaction with community and family quality of life. The Family Quality of Life Survey (Brown et al., 2006), translated on Croatian language (Žic-Ralić, 2011) was used. In this paper results on one domain of family quality of life will be shown. That domain is about values and results show its influence on family quality of life. The sample consisted of 51 parents of school age children with disabilities, who live in their own families and attend special education system in Zagreb, Osijek and Varaždin. Results show that there is statistically significant correlation between some dimensions of “Value” domain and overall quality of life and satisfaction with quality of life of family with children with disabilities. Furthermore, there is statistically significant correlation between level in which community accept child’s disability and support families in coping with problems and overall quality of life of family with children with Down syndrome. Results also show differences in correlation between values, interaction with community and overall quality of life of family depending of child’s type of disability.
The ADHD symptoms put the children suffering from this disorder at a higher risk of being a victim of bulling as well as of behaving aggressively towards peers. Objectives: This study is conducted in ...order to identify the frequency of specific forms of victimization and bullying in children with ADHD, and to determine if there is any correlation between victimization and bullying, and between different forms of bullying in children with ADHD. Methods: Bullying was tested on a sample of 72 first-through-eighth graders with ADHD diagnosis by means of the School Bullying Questionnaire (UŠN-2003) designed in line with the Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire. Results: The results indicate a statistically significant correlation between being a victim and being a perpetrator of bullying. The study also shows statistically significant correlations between specific forms of bullying. Conclusion: The results of this study provide guidelines for further studies and prevention/ intervention programs concerning bullying which involves children with ADHD.
Inclusion of children with disabilities into the regular education system has undoubtedly increased the number of social interactions between children with and without disability. However, most ...previous research suggests a low acceptance of children with disabilities in the peer environment. Lower levels of social acceptance can affect the development of friendship as the most important relationship with peers. This paper summarizes the results of the research of positive peer interactions of children with disabilities, acceptance and friendship with typical children as well as with children who also have disabilities. Children with disabilities, unlike typical peers, often experience greater difficulty in creating and maintaining friendships. Delayed development of motor, perceptual, cognitive, language, communication and / or social skills is likely to contribute to the difficulties of children with disabilities in creating lasting friendships. This paper provides an overview of scientific knowledge about the effectiveness of the researched strategies for social acceptance, development and maintenance of friendship.
Inclusion of children with disabilities into the regular education system has undoubtedly increased the number of social interactions between children with and without disability. However, most ...previous research suggests a low acceptance of children with disabilities in the peer environment. Lower levels of social acceptance can affect the development of friendship as the most important relationship with peers. This paper summarizes the results of the research of positive peer interactions of children with disabilities, acceptance and friendship with typical children as well as with children who also have disabilities. Children with disabilities, unlike typical peers, often experience greater difficulty in creating and maintaining friendships. Delayed development of motor, perceptual, cognitive, language, communication and / or social skills is likely to contribute to the difficulties of children with disabilities in creating lasting friendships. This paper provides an overview of scientific knowledge about the effectiveness of the researched strategies for social acceptance, development and maintenance of friendship. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT Reprinted by permission of Drustvena Istrazivanja
This study aims to gain insight into the teachers' reflections on the integration of children with disabilities, their perceived and encountered professional challenges and barriers. The study ...included 39 classroom and subject teachers from the Varazdin County. Interviews as research method were used for collecting data. The interviews were recorded, the materials were then transcribed, and qualitative data analysis was made. Teachers expressed general support for the integration process of students with disabilities into regular primary schools, but it is evident how differently they cope with professional challenges. They mostly considered integration as positive and good for students with disabilities and their peers. However, it is clear that their opinion on the integration depends on affect and type of difficulties students with disabilities do have and on number of students in the classes, which results in the inability of sanctification to students with disabilities in their work. The most significant barriers from teachers' perspective are: their willingness to work with students with special needs, motivations, attitudes and lack of education; cooperation with parents; acceptance from peers; type of disability; deficit of professional support staff; relations with teaching assistants; sensitization of society; physical obstacles and conditions in teaching process. By raising awareness about barriers that exist in the work of teachers, taking into account their perspective, clear guidelines to ensure quality support for teachers in their work, as well as for the entire process of including children with disabilities in regular schools are given.
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