Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Improving the social belonging of students with special educational needs

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We adopt a more inclusive model in our schools with every passing year. As more special educational needs students find a place in general education, their social inclusion requires more effort on our part as educators.


Research studies show that special needs students feel alone, isolated, and left out in schools.


A study published in 2001 found that students with disabilities are often deliberately excluded by their peers in academic and extracurricular settings.


Parents of special needs children usually report that their children are sometimes excluded or separated from their peers at school events like field trips, ceremonies, and celebrations.


To meet the needs of students with disabilities — particularly their need to feel like they belong in the school community — we need to prioritise social inclusion throughout our schools.


Removing the physical barriers to play for children with disabilities is one part of inclusion but removing the social barriers that help all children in our schools feel included requires further effort.


For children with disabilities to feel genuinely included, it requires looking at the invisible barriers — the misconceptions, the perception that they are somehow less capable, seen as less valuable than their peers without disabilities.


The following are some of the tips that can help our schools become more socially inclusive.


1)To facilitate social interaction between students with and without disabilities, field trips between general and special education classes to inclusive playgrounds help children interact and play together.


2)Play is something that all children, regardless of their abilities, enjoy together, but simply throwing students together on the playground does not ensure that they play together.


An inclusion awareness programme that teaches general education students to acknowledge and challenge their biases toward people with disabilities is one way to remove the barriers to social inclusion.


3)Grouping students from general education students with special education students as buddies bypasses another roadblock by ensuring that students interact with each other. Letting the general education students know their buddies’ interests, abilities, and limitations beforehand helps the students to enjoy each other and have fun.


4)Having general education students participate in a reflection session where they consider how their beliefs changed and how they will interact with their peers with disabilities also helps to remove bias.


5)Bringing middle and high school students with and without disabilities together to engage in service projects, giving them a chance to develop relationships with their peers and do something useful for their community is also helpful.


6)Inclusion efforts can also be very simple as arranging for special and general education students to meet once a month, have lunch together and do activities, also helps break down barriers.


7)Parents of general education students can also play an essential role in the inclusion efforts. Parents can include the SEN students and their families at events and birthday parties. All parents want their children to learn and develop their social and adaptive skills and participating in the school community helps them achieve these goals.


8)General education students learning sign language to communicate with their friends and using person-first language instead of ability-centred language when talking about students with disabilities can help them develop greater empathy through their interactions.


These kinds of interventions, when put in place, can transform school campuses. However, an inclusion process like this takes time. Working towards inclusion is not just one quick trip; and it is something that has a lasting impact. It shapes how students act, think, and feel about differences, and it shapes who children are and how they will interact with others in the world and society.


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