Problem 2 - Welcome in the classroom
In-depth questions:
1. The articles from Vaughn et al (2001), Ruijs & Peetsma (2009) and Szumski et al. (2017)
are all review articles. How do the three review articles differ on each of the following
aspects:
- Kind of review
- Research question
- Population of children with special educational needs
2. The article from De Boer et al. (2013) is a single study. But is it a correlational study or
an intervention study? And what was the sample like? And what does it imply for the
kind of conclusions that you can draw based on the findings? Furthermore, which are the
two main dependent variables in this study and how were they measured?
3. Given the evidence provided by all the articles, do you think the parents of children with
SEN are right that their kids will be better off in special education than in inclusive
classrooms? And do you think the teachers are right that students without SEN will
suffer in inclusive education? And looking at the evidence in general, how well do you
think we can predict the effects of inclusive education in a new situation?
NOTES
Vaughn, S., Elbaum, B., & Boardman, A. G. (2001). The social
functioning of students with learning disabilities:
Implications for inclusion. Exceptionality: A Special Education
Journal, 9, 47-65.
AIM: a selective review of research on the social functioning of students with learning disabilities
(LD), focusing on four areas → social skills, self-concept, friendships, social networks
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SOCIAL SKILLS (SS)
→ effective social skills involve the ability to initiate and respond appropriately to others; they
are the foundation of making and maintaining friends and interacting successfully with others
- SS → prosocial and responding skills demonstrated across setting and persons
(language, nonverbal reactions, attitudes a person conveys to others)
- Cognition → is manifested in the ability to reason and make decisions about the give
and take of social interactions
, - Meta analysis/MA (Kavale, Forness) → 75% of students with LD received lower rating of
their social skills when compared with peers without LD
- In class students with LD who exhibit poor social skills are more likely to be neglected or
rejected by their classmates and are not as well liked by their teachers
- As a group, students with disabilities are perceived by all categories (parents, teachers,
classmates, themselves) to exhibit poorer social skills than peers without disabilities
TEACHER’S PERCEPTIONS (TP)
MA → teachers perceived that students with LD are most frequently distinguished from their
peers without LD by academic deficits and less frequent social interactions
- 8/10 students with LD were rated by teachers as exhibiting hyperactivity, distractibility,
poor adjustment → not paying attention during a lesson and being off tasks
- Teachers did not see behavior problems as contributing greatly to social skills difficulties
of students with LD
PARENTS’ PERCEPTIONS (PP)
S → parents perceived fewer social skills deficits for students with LD than were reported by the
students’ teachers; given that the situational context is likely to affect behavioral expectations,
parents may differ from teachers in their expectation concerning appropriate social skills
PEER PERCEPTIONS (pP)
→ social skills deficits are characterized most frequently by rejection, followed by limited
acceptance (wherein students without LD are friends with only about 30% of their peers with
LD)
- Studies that compared students with LD to low-achieving students without LD found no
difference in peers’ perceptions of their classmates’ social skills → circumstances
resulting from academic weaknesses such as being less involved in classroom activities
rather than having a learning disability per se, affect how students are perceived by their
classmates
STUDENTS SELF-PERCEPTIONS (SSP)
→ 80% of students with LD reported deficiencies in their nonverbal communication and social
problem solving
- Factors often associated with a LD such as language impairment or a processing deficit
can be problematic in the acquisition and application of appropriate social skills
INTERVENTIONS TO IMPROVE SS OF STUDENTS WITH LD
Since a great number of students with LD exhibit inappropriate SS according to the ppl who
interact with them daily we need to find ways to improve them to avoid negative outcomes
- MA → SS interventions appeared to be only minimally effective in changing students’
behaviors (average lengh= 3h each week, for 3 months)
- S → a 4 year longitudinal study → SS increased from year to year even without targeted
interventions
→ so maybe a short time intervention is not effective
Limitations of interventions observed:
- Lots of interventions are not adequately validated → not good results
In-depth questions:
1. The articles from Vaughn et al (2001), Ruijs & Peetsma (2009) and Szumski et al. (2017)
are all review articles. How do the three review articles differ on each of the following
aspects:
- Kind of review
- Research question
- Population of children with special educational needs
2. The article from De Boer et al. (2013) is a single study. But is it a correlational study or
an intervention study? And what was the sample like? And what does it imply for the
kind of conclusions that you can draw based on the findings? Furthermore, which are the
two main dependent variables in this study and how were they measured?
3. Given the evidence provided by all the articles, do you think the parents of children with
SEN are right that their kids will be better off in special education than in inclusive
classrooms? And do you think the teachers are right that students without SEN will
suffer in inclusive education? And looking at the evidence in general, how well do you
think we can predict the effects of inclusive education in a new situation?
NOTES
Vaughn, S., Elbaum, B., & Boardman, A. G. (2001). The social
functioning of students with learning disabilities:
Implications for inclusion. Exceptionality: A Special Education
Journal, 9, 47-65.
AIM: a selective review of research on the social functioning of students with learning disabilities
(LD), focusing on four areas → social skills, self-concept, friendships, social networks
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SOCIAL SKILLS (SS)
→ effective social skills involve the ability to initiate and respond appropriately to others; they
are the foundation of making and maintaining friends and interacting successfully with others
- SS → prosocial and responding skills demonstrated across setting and persons
(language, nonverbal reactions, attitudes a person conveys to others)
- Cognition → is manifested in the ability to reason and make decisions about the give
and take of social interactions
, - Meta analysis/MA (Kavale, Forness) → 75% of students with LD received lower rating of
their social skills when compared with peers without LD
- In class students with LD who exhibit poor social skills are more likely to be neglected or
rejected by their classmates and are not as well liked by their teachers
- As a group, students with disabilities are perceived by all categories (parents, teachers,
classmates, themselves) to exhibit poorer social skills than peers without disabilities
TEACHER’S PERCEPTIONS (TP)
MA → teachers perceived that students with LD are most frequently distinguished from their
peers without LD by academic deficits and less frequent social interactions
- 8/10 students with LD were rated by teachers as exhibiting hyperactivity, distractibility,
poor adjustment → not paying attention during a lesson and being off tasks
- Teachers did not see behavior problems as contributing greatly to social skills difficulties
of students with LD
PARENTS’ PERCEPTIONS (PP)
S → parents perceived fewer social skills deficits for students with LD than were reported by the
students’ teachers; given that the situational context is likely to affect behavioral expectations,
parents may differ from teachers in their expectation concerning appropriate social skills
PEER PERCEPTIONS (pP)
→ social skills deficits are characterized most frequently by rejection, followed by limited
acceptance (wherein students without LD are friends with only about 30% of their peers with
LD)
- Studies that compared students with LD to low-achieving students without LD found no
difference in peers’ perceptions of their classmates’ social skills → circumstances
resulting from academic weaknesses such as being less involved in classroom activities
rather than having a learning disability per se, affect how students are perceived by their
classmates
STUDENTS SELF-PERCEPTIONS (SSP)
→ 80% of students with LD reported deficiencies in their nonverbal communication and social
problem solving
- Factors often associated with a LD such as language impairment or a processing deficit
can be problematic in the acquisition and application of appropriate social skills
INTERVENTIONS TO IMPROVE SS OF STUDENTS WITH LD
Since a great number of students with LD exhibit inappropriate SS according to the ppl who
interact with them daily we need to find ways to improve them to avoid negative outcomes
- MA → SS interventions appeared to be only minimally effective in changing students’
behaviors (average lengh= 3h each week, for 3 months)
- S → a 4 year longitudinal study → SS increased from year to year even without targeted
interventions
→ so maybe a short time intervention is not effective
Limitations of interventions observed:
- Lots of interventions are not adequately validated → not good results
