Elias Kourkoutas

Young Children's Attitudes toward Peers with Intellectual Disabilities: Effect of the Type of School.

BACKGROUND This study explored typically developing childrens attitudes towards peers with intellectual disabilities, with special reference to the type of school they attended. MATERIALS AND METHODS Two hundred and fifty-six Greek children aged 9-10 (135 in inclusive settings) completed a questionnaire and an adjective list by Gash (European Journal of Special Needs Education 1993; 8, 106) and drew a child with intellectual disabilities, commenting also on their drawings. RESULTS Typically developing children expressed overall neutral attitudes towards peers with intellectual disabilities. Type of school differentiated their attitudes, with children from inclusive settings being more positive towards peers with intellectual disabilities and choosing less negative adjectives to describe them than children from non-inclusive settings. Girls and students who expressed more positive social, emotional and overall attitudes towards students with intellectual disabilities chose more positive adjectives to describe a child with intellectual disabilities. It was also found that children from inclusive settings drew children with intellectual disabilities as more similar to a child with Down syndrome in comparison with children from non-inclusive settings. CONCLUSIONS Effective inclusive practices should be promoted to foster social acceptance of students with intellectual disabilities.

Working with Parents to Support Their Disabled Children’s Social and School Inclusion: An Exploratory Counseling Study

This article synthesizes the long-lasting counseling process of a family with a child suffering from a chronic illness. The provided intervention model draws on a series of principles from various theoretical approaches, namely systemic, psychodynamic, and resiliency. Family functioning and support is considered a catalytic parameter in assisting children with disabilities to fully develop their potential. This project is based on a family and child-centered integrative counseling model adopting the nonmedical conception of disability. Through the presentation of a case study of a couple who faced a critical situation in the life of their child, this article briefly describes the way the family dynamics were readdressed through this intervention counseling model. In addition, this work attempts to give a picture of the complex and confusing emotional states parents may go through when dealing with physical and psychological health-threatening situations and present guidelines for integrated counseling models.

Building inclusion and resilience in students with and without SEN through the implementation of narrative speech, role play and creative writing in the mainstream classroom of primary education

ABSTRACT Based on the theory of inclusion, the present 3-year pilot program (2013–2016) deals with narrative speech, role play and creative writing as a useful tool to build resilience in primary school students with and without Special Educational Needs (SEN) in the mainstream classroom. The specific aim of the program was to help students develop a series of fundamental psychosocial skills, such as a positive sense of inner self and the ability to cooperate and relate to others by familiarising with them in recognising and expressing the basic emotions of joy, sadness, fear and anger. Under the systematic cooperation among the general education teacher, the special education teacher and the rest of the teaching staff, the concept was to involve the maximum of the school teachers in order to create a Community of Practice, Collaboration, Sharing Learning and Action. Using an action-based research approach, the data from the present work allowed the participating students to demonstrate a range of socio-emotional skills, including those necessary for self-awareness. Similarly, the teachers involved in the project in each class built positive relations with their students and the rest of the teachers as well, whom they encouraged to participate in various collaborative tasks through similar programs.

Parental and Teacher Acceptance-Rejection, Sense of Loneliness, and Social Dissatisfaction in Children with and without Special Educational Needs: Implications for Practice

Grounded in IPARTheory and risk/protective systemic perspective, the present study aims to examine the Sense of Loneliness, the Social Dissatisfaction, the Parental Acceptance-Rejection and the Teacher Acceptance-Rejection, as perceived by students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and without SEN– typical classroom students (TCS). The sample of the study was composed by 284 primary education students, aged 8 to 12 years old, from the island of Crete (urban, semi-urban, and rural areas). The results of the study showed that SEN students experience stronger feelings of loneliness and perceive themselves as displaying lower social competence and higher levels of social dissatisfaction than their non SEN peers. In addition, the Linear Regression Analysis showed that for the SEN group, both the Maternal Hostile/Aggressive attitude and the Teacher Hostile/Aggressive attitude, as perceived by the students significantly predict the Sense of Loneliness in the SEN group. As for the TCS group, the Paternal Hostile/Aggressive attitude significantly predicts in a lesser degree the Sense of Loneliness.

Creatività, pensiero divergente e pensiero laterale per una didattica semplessa

In the current dynamic school contexts, teachers are requested to plan and implement flexible and differentiated didactic programmes with the aim of meeting all the students’ needs and bring their potential to light. This educational investment, besides being a professional need, aids in removing any obstacle to learning and promotes full participation in school life. This article outlines the theoretical framework of creative thinking within a simplex perspective, intended as a tool for didactic deviations, and consequently provides the basis of how this innovative strategy could help to decipher and face complexity in challenging situations.