Online education of students with mild intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic in the opinion of teacher

Online education, introduced obligatorily during the COVID-19 pandemic, poses a great challenge for teachers, students and their parents. Children and adolescents with mild intellectual disability or with ASD, that due to their cognitive deficits need appropriate support, are in a particular difficult situation. The aim of the conducted research was to specify the possible problems of online education of students with mild intellectual disability and ASD in their teachers' opinion. The research consisted in answering the questions from an online questionnaire. 114 teachers teaching children and adolescents with mild intellectual disability and 114 teachers teaching children and adolescents with ASD participated in the research. The results show that according to the teachers the biggest problems of students with mild intellectual disability and ASD are: understanding and remembering new material, lack of contact with their peers. Students with ASD are characterized by significantly greater intensity of the occurrence of difficulties in the area of education than people with mild intellectual disability. Difficulties in both groups of examined children and adolescents oblige to appropriately support them in online education and cooperation with their parents.

Preventing exclusion: the role of therapists and parents in the inclusion of a disabled child in the education system

Choosing an educational system for a disabled child already at the stage of pre-school education is a difficult and stressful experience for parents, which regardless of the final decision, raises many doubts. Certain questions arise: ‘where there is a place in the education system for the child with a disability certificate?’, ‘where the child can develop best?’, but also ‘where the child simply feels happy and does not experience exclusion?’. Many things depend on the level of the child’s disability, on key choices made by parents, and on the quality of cooperation, both in the three-way parent-therapist-child relationship, but also in the two-way parent-child and therapist-child relationships. Parents more and more often make decisions about inclusive education, where a child can develop amongst non-disabled peers. This article focuses primarily on the role of parents and therapists in the process of including a disabled child in the education system, the potential of cooperation, but also the fears, difficulties and expectations accompanying both sides.

Mothers' perspective on the functioning of a family with a child with special communication needs – preliminary research

This article presents the results of preliminary research on the mothers’ perspective on the functioning of a family with a child with special communication needs. The goal was to gain an insight into the experiences of mothers of children with special communication needs in different areas of life and to understand the factors that influence their experiences. The following areas of the mothers’ experiences in the functioning of a family were identified: the doing everyday activities, spending free time, relationships between family members and mothers' ideas about the future of a family with a child with special communication needs. The research employed individual case studies and the in-depth interview technique.

Intellectual disability – towards the modification of theoretical contexts

n this article, I deal with the contemporary contexts of the analysis of the intellectual disability phenomenon and the alternative proposals for theorizing presented by disability studies. I ask the question: what /who the dominant views and non-scientific alliances are for. I question the tendency to favour the medical approach in special pedagogy, which is the starting point as well as the reference point for the educational, rehabilitation, care and support practices it develops. I am not going to decide on the legitimacy of various approaches, I am aware of their historical and systemic conditions. However, I dare to ask a question about – as Miłosz Markiewicz (2017) described it – the limits of the definition of a Human. In view of the experienced diversity of human conditions, like the above-mentioned author, today I have a “problem with using the category of disability too easily” (Markiewicz, 2017, p. 23), and in particular, not often considered in relation to the methods of scientific analysis and theoretical contexts, the category of intellectual disability.

Good practices in collaboration between mainstream and special school

The study addresses an element of the support for inclusive education that can be spotted in the sphere of possible relations between mainstream and special school. This mostly aims at presenting some good practices in collaboration between these schools, identified in the author’s own research. An additional aim is to confront the collected information with the concepts and assumptions/proposals formulated in this area in the literature on the subject. The research was conducted within the project: Badanie praktyki ogólnodostępnych szkół podstawowych w zakresie edukacji włączającej [Studying the practices of mainstream primary schools in the field of inclusive education], financed by the Ministry of National Education and commissioned to the University of Silesia in Katowice in 2020. The data were collected with the use of focus group interview technique. The study group consisted of mainstream school head-teachers, teachers, specialists, non-teaching staff, students of public schools and their parents. The study comprised over two hundred respondents from forty schools. The research results reveal a limited scope of good practices in collaboration of both types of school. The greatest number of examples occurs in the area of common organization of ludic and educational events. Much fewer cases of collaboration can be spotted in the field of methodological support and of creating self-education groups in counties or municipalities. The first part of the study is a presentation of the own research concept. The second part comprises some identified practices in collaboration between special and mainstream school, which have been confronted with a few suggestions for partnership of both these types of school presented in the literature on the subject. The whole article is completed with final conclusions.

Attitudes of parents of children with normal development towards the education system of pupils with special educational needs

The article focuses on the issues related to the education system of students with special educational needs. At the beginning, the concept of "parental attitude" was analysed and the main typology of parental attitudes was discussed. Then the concept and the essence of special educational needs and integrate education, inclusive education were explained along with the relationship between them. The organization of integrate education was also characterized. The main part of the publication is devoted to the presentation of the results of research carried out in order to learn about and present the attitudes of parents of children with normal development towards the education system of pupils with special educational needs. The research was carried out using the diagnostic survey method and survey technique. These studies have shown that parents of children with normal development mostly have a positive attitude towards the education system of students with special educational needs. Only some of them, who are in the minority, present a strongly or rather negative attitude. Parents of children with normal development demonstrate a great knowledge about the integrate education system. There is no doubt that the entire modern education system is currently struggling with criticism not only from parents and educators, but also from the students themselves. An important activity that should take place in every educational institution is, above all, the promotion of the idea of integration. Both the integrate and inclusive education system is the future of education in Poland. That is why it is so important and necessary to undertake educational activities that increase knowledge and social awareness in this area. Thus, the creation of integrated classes becomes an opportunity for children with special educational needs because functioning in such a class enables proper social development with peers with normal development.

Attitudes of early childhood education teachers towards educational inclusion and the social adjustment of students with disabilities

Research shows that teachers' attitudes are a decisive element of the effective inclusion of students with disabilities, thereby conducive to the social adaptation of these students. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between teachers' attitudes towards inclusive education and the social adjustment of students with disabilities. The sample consisted of 79 teachers of early childhood education working in a mainstream school and having a student in their class with a decision on the need for special education. The study used the Multidimensional Attitudes Scale towards Inclusive Education and the Classroom Behaviour Inventory Preschool to Primary. The results obtained in the study allow the conclusion that the positive beliefs of a teacher towards inclusive education (cognitive component of attitude) are most strongly associated with the social adaptation of a student with a disability. The conducted study showed that the teacher's readiness to modify the physical environment, his communication method and the methods of assessment with regard to the student's abilities and needs is related to the social adaptation of students with disabilities in a mainstream class. These aspects seem to be essential for the optimal functioning of a student with a disability in a mainstream class. The role of teachers' attitudes towards inclusive education in shaping the social adjustment of students with disabilities was emphasized.

Symbolic violence against a person with intellectual disability in a nursing home care

The system of institutional support should be tailored to the needs and capabilities of the persons using it, ensuring full social development. However, institutional care involves tearing the individual out of real social life, isolating him or her and imposing actions that lead to a specific change. The approach of professionals focuses on restoring a state of normality to people with disabilities at all costs or takes the form of neglecting the needs of the individual through an infantile approach to them. The aim of this paper is to present the results of research on the reconstruction of experiences and interpretations of the experience of symbolic violence by people with intellectual disabilities residing in social welfare homes. The research presented in this paper is set in the interpretative paradigm, which consequently allowed the application of the biographical method with the use of autobiographical narrative interview. The analysis of the empirical material reveals various forms of symbolic violence. Some are the result of imposed assistance, i.e., the system of social policy, which in its essence does not take into account the individual needs and possibilities of the individual. Systemic assumptions condemn narrators to certain actions and behaviours. Symbolic violence is also evident in the relationships between the staff of the institutions and the residents, which results, among other things, in anxiety, a sense of being inferior and insecurity.

Around the pedagogy of the identity core of the Deaf

The author analyses identity as an interdisciplinary and ambiguous phenomenon. The key issue is to explain Who is creating the Deaf community? What determinants decide about belonging to the Deaf community? Is it really possible to talk about the formation of the pedagogy of the identity core of the Deaf? The author emphasizes what the Deaf gained thanks to deafness, e.g., natural sign language, dignity, Culture, deafhood, shared historical, social, political or artistic experiences. In spite of the internal diversity of the Deaf community, it turns out that this community is created not only by people who accept the principles of belonging, but above all by people who are aware of their socio-cultural identity and have an accepted hierarchy of the identity core.

Jacek J. Błeszyński: Co osoby z autyzmem mówią nam o sobie. Raport z badań . [What people with autism tell us about themselves. Research report.] Wydawnictwo Naukowe UMK, Toruń 2020, ss. 192

A book written by Jacek J. Błeszyński entitled “What people with autism tell us about themselves. Research report.” contains the results of research on people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) embedded in an interpretative paradigm. The author writes that “it is time to listen to people with autism spectrum disorders” and presents a change in approach towards a humanistic and personalistic understanding of a person. The publication is definitely worth recommending because it is directed not only to parents, guardians or specialists working with people with ASD, but to everyone who is directly or indirectly responsible for social and educational inclusion.