The Nature of Friendship Between Students With and Without Severe Disabilities

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 195-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Rossetti ◽  
Jennifer Keenan

Friendships are developmentally important and personally beneficial relationships for all children and youth. Despite emphasis from families and educators of students with severe disabilities on the importance of promoting and supporting friendships with their typically developing (TD) peers in inclusive settings, such relationships remain infrequent. We conducted an integrative thematic literature review of research that directly examined the nature of friendship between students with and without severe disabilities to better understand how researchers define friendship, identify participants, and confirm participants’ friendships. Implications for future research are discussed. We also sought to identify themes in extant research to guide future intervention. The thematic findings point to the importance of adults providing direct support while fading their proximity to students, and of TD peers negotiating the ongoing tension between the roles of helper and friend.

2000 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
John McDonnell ◽  
Nadine Thorson ◽  
Camille McQuivey

This study examined the instructional contexts of six students with severe disabilities and six peers without disabilities enrolled in the same general education classes. The two groups of students were compared on (a) the extent to which they were the exclusive focus of instruction; (b) the amount of one-to-one, small group, and whole group instruction that they received and the amount of independent work they were asked to complete; (c) who delivered instruction; and (d) the types of instructional interactions that were directed toward them. Data were collected using The Code for Instructional Structure and Academic Response — Mainstream Version (MS-CISSAR; Carta, Greenwood, Schwartz & Miller, 1990). The results indicate that students with severe disabilities were much more likely than their typically developing peers to have instruction focused exclusively on them and to receive one-to-one instruction. The results are discussed in terms of the implications for educational programs for this group of students and future research.


2002 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Fisher ◽  
Luanna H. Meyer

Inclusive programs increasingly have become available for students with severe disabilities, enabling them to receive special education services and supports in general education classes alongside their non-disabled peers. Forty students in two groups were assessed across two years of inclusive versus self-contained educational programming, comparing outcomes on measures of child development and social competence with the Scales of Independent Behavior (SIB) and the Assessment of Social Competence (ASC). Participants were assessed on the SIB and ASC, matched into pairs on chronological age and SIB total scores at first testing, and reassessed after two additional years of either inclusive or self-contained schooling. The inclusive student group made statistically significant gains on the developmental measure and realized higher social competence scores in comparison to the self-contained group at follow-up. Examination of gains on these measures irrespective of group affiliation indicated that participants made small, but significant, gains in two of four skill clusters assessed by the SIB and three of eleven dimensions of the ASC. These results challenge a common assumption that selfcontained settings in comparison to inclusive settings will result in superior gains on students' IEP-related skill domains. They also support previous research showing social competence gains as a function of inclusion. Results are discussed in terms of expected change over time for students with severe disabilities, the implications of variations from the group results that occurred for individual students, and future research needed on the outcomes of quality inclusive schooling for students with severe disabilities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 28-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellary A. Draper ◽  
Laura S. Brown ◽  
Judith A. Jellison

Too often, students with disabilities in regular classrooms have limited access to the regular curriculum, and for students with severe disabilities, interactions are often with paraprofessionals, not typical classmates. The present study is grounded in action research methods in that an elementary teacher and the authors worked together for the purpose of designing, implementing, and evaluating interaction guidelines between her students with severe disabilities and their typically developing classmates. Overall, instruction and implementation of peer-interaction activities for working together and helping each other were efficient and resulted in high rates of positive interactions. Although the students with disabilities needed different kinds of support, they were capable of participating in a wide-range of music activities and interacting with their typical classmates. Differences in frequencies and quality of interactions are attributed primarily to task complexity, individual needs, and partner assignments.


1997 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 133-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
June E Downing ◽  
Joanne Eichinger ◽  
Lllly J Williams

Structured interviews were conducted with elementary school principals, general educators (k-6), and special educators at different levels of inclusive educational programming to determine perceptions toward inclusive education for learners with severe disabilities. Comments from the 27 participants were categorized according to the main questions asked during the interviews, with similar comments aggregated per category. Comparisons made by professional role and level of implementation regarding inclusive education revealed several concurring statements as well as some discrepancies. Differences in perception of inclusive education for students with severe disabilities across professional role and level of implementation of respondents are described. Implications for future research and inclusive educational practices are discussed.


1996 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
DIANE L RYNDAK ◽  
JUNE E DOWNING ◽  
ANDREA P MORRISON ◽  
LILLY J. WILLIAMS

PARENTS OF 13 CHILDREN HAVING MODERATE OR SEVERE DISABILITIES WHO WERE RECEIVING EDUCATIONAL SERVICES IN INCLUSIVE SETTINGS ACROSS SEVEN SCHOOL DISTRICTS WERE INTERVIEWED ABOUT THEIR PERCEPTIONS OF SERVICES IN SELF-CONTAINED AND INCLUSIVE SETTINGS. SEMISTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS WERE USED TO OBTAIN DATA PERTAINING TO THESE PARENTS' PERCEPTIONS. INTERVIEWS WERE ANALYZED FOR COMMON THEMES ACROSS PARENTS PER TYPE OF SETTING, WITH THREE MAJOR THEMES BEING IDENTIFIED. THEMES INCLUDED COMMENTS RELATED TO THE LOCATION IN WHICH SERVICES ARE PROVIDED, THE CONTENT ADDRESSED DURING INSTRUCTION, AND THE MANNER IN WHICH SERVICES ARE DELIVERED. PARENTS CLEARLY STATED THEIR RATIONALE FOR WHAT THEY CONSIDERED APPROPRIATE AND LEAST RESTRICTIVE ABOUT SETTINGS AND INSTRUCTIONAL CONTENT. PARENTS ALSO EXPRESSED THEIR VIEWS ON HOW DISTRICT PERSONNEL SHOULD INTERACT WITH THEIR CHILDREN, THOUGH SPECIFIC TEACHING STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE THEIR CHILDREN'S LEARNING WERE NOT ARTICULATED AS CLEARLY. FINDINGS FROM THIS STUDY ADD TO THE LITERATURE ON PARENT PERCEPTIONS AND INVOLVEMENT IN EDUCATION TEAM DECISIONS. FUTURE RESEARCH NEEDS RELATE TO FACTORS ATTRIBUTING TO THESE PERCEPTIONS.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 200-211
Author(s):  
Helen I. Cannella-Malone ◽  
Eliseo D. Jimenez ◽  
John M. Schaefer ◽  
Megan Miller ◽  
Hollie Byrum

Video prompting has a strong evidence base as an effective strategy to teach students with severe disabilities a variety of skills including daily living skills. This study examined whether differences in daily living tasks (i.e., multistep, multicomponent, and sequential tasks) would impact skill acquisition using video prompting by three participants with severe to profound disabilities. Results indicated that although video prompting was effective broadly, aspects of task type taught may affect the pace of an individual’s acquisition. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 256-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth E. Biggs ◽  
Carly B. Gilson ◽  
Erik W. Carter

Fostering and maintaining strong collaborative relationships are critically important for paraprofessionals and special education teachers working together to provide a high-quality education for students with severe disabilities. Through in-depth interviews with 22 teachers and paraprofessionals comprising nine educational teams, we examined educator perspectives on what influences the quality of their professional relationships, as well as how their perspectives on these influences converged or diverged. Teachers and paraprofessionals identified five themes of influences to the quality of their relationships: teacher influences, paraprofessional influences, shared influences (i.e., related to the collective efforts of teachers and paraprofessionals), administrative influences (i.e., related to school and district leaders), and underlying influences (i.e., related to contextual or other factors). The findings highlight the complex nature of these relationships and emphasize the importance of supporting teachers and paraprofessionals as they work together to meet the needs of students with severe disabilities. We offer recommendations for future research and practice aimed at strengthening the quality and impact of special educator–paraprofessional collaborations.


Inclusion ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 239-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Rossetti ◽  
Donna Lehr ◽  
Shuoxi Huang ◽  
Jessica Ghai ◽  
Nancy Harayama

AbstractFriendships between students with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) remain infrequent, especially at the secondary level. However, when friendships between students with and without IDD have developed, direct support from parents and teachers has been a critical facilitator. Thus, this qualitative study examined parent (n = 10) and teacher (n = 20) perspectives on friendships and social interactions of middle and high school students with IDD receiving special education services in inclusive settings at least part of the day. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with each participant and analyzed inductively using a multistage process of open and then thematic coding. The thematic findings suggest that the challenge of friendship development between students with and without IDD is ongoing, though there may be potential in focusing more explicitly and intentionally on increasing social interaction opportunities both in and out of school. Implications for future research and practice are described in the context of supporting students with and without IDD to increase social interactions and develop friendships.


1994 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 253-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marquita Grenot-Scheyer

Children with severe disabilities and their friends without disabilities were compared with children with severe disabilities and their acquaintances without disabilities on a range of characteristics and their interactions were examined. The sample included 20 children with severe disabilities and 11 children without disabilities. Dyads (child with severe disabilities and his/her friend without disabilities, child with severe disabilities and his/her acquaintance without disabilities) were videotaped while playing with a variety of games during two periods of 15 min each. Considering child characteristics first, the friends and acquaintances did not differ in developmental level, language age, or functional movement. There also were no significant differences between the groups on social competence. In regards to interactions, there were several differences between the friend and acquaintance groups, but the majority of these differences were not statistically significant. The results are interpreted and implications for future research and educational programs are suggested.


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