‘I want support, not comments’: children's perspectives on supports in their life

Abstract

Supports are a major part of the daily lives of children with special educational needs who participate in general education schools. Little attention has been paid to how they experience supports. Six children and their peers who were interviewed appreciated supports because they remove restrictions in activities due to the impairment.However, the analysis also shows how these positive supports can have negative psycho-emotional repercussions, and that they are less focused on addressing disabling barriers. The children"s accounts demonstrate the ambiguous and situated nature of supports, and need for the children to be able to direct supports as "chief partners" in the inclusion process.

The Dissection of Paraprofessional Support in Inclusive Education: ‘You're in Mainstream With a Chaperone’

“…Giangreco (2009, p. 3) cautions that 'the nature of the support [provided to students with disabilities] may be inconsistent with individual goals that are geared toward greater student independence' , which was evident in this case, to the detriment of the young people's inclusion. These findings are consistent with other studies (Broer et al, 2005;De Schauwer et al, 2009;Mortier et al, 2011;Tews & Lupart, 2008), and show that young people with VI feel similarly towards paraprofessionals, as do those with intellectual and other impairments.…”

“…Students in receipt of paraprofessional support appear to constantly experience feelings of dependence on support personnel, which negatively affected their sense of autonomy (Tews & Lupart, 2008). Furthermore, the studies reported that students often felt controlled by support personnel (Broer et al, 2005;De Schauwer et al, 2009;Mortier et al, 2011;Tews & Lupart, 2008). Students who attended classes accompanied by paraprofessionals continually compared themselves against their peers who did not receive support.…”

“…More than a decade after this finding, a database search yielded a small number of published studies with methodology that included the voiced experiences of students with disabilities about the paraprofessional support that they received (Broer, Doyle, & Giangreco, 2005;Mortier, Desimpel, De Schauwer, & Van Hove, 2011;Tews & Lupart, 2008), among other aspects of their inclusion (Curtin & Clarke, 2005;De Schauwer, Van Hove, Mortier, & Loots, 2009). Most studies were conducted with either former or current students with cognitive or physical impairments; only one participant in Mortier et al's (2011) investigation had impaired vision.…”

Understanding the role of the Teaching Assistant: comparing the views of pupils with SEN and TAs within mainstream primary schools

“…This disparity could suggest different priorities for the two groups, with pupils feeling that they need help with academic tasks and TAs more focused on managing pupil behaviour. This is an interesting finding, given research that has suggested pupils do not always feel able to have autonomy over how they are supported and may be supported with tasks where they feel they do not need help (Mortier et al ., ; Tews and Lupart, ).…”

“…There has been little research in relation to pupil perspectives of TAs and their understanding of the TA role. Where researchers have spoken to pupils, the children interviewed have most often spoken positively about TAs' support, saying that they enjoy the company of their TA and appreciate the support for things they find challenging within school (Mortier et al, ). In other studies, however, pupils have also expressed concerns about the support received from TAs, including a feeling that pupils lacked autonomy and control over how they were helped in school (Skar and Tamm, ; Tews and Lupart, ).…”