Will you be my friend? A multilevel network analysis of friendships of students with and without special educational needs backgrounds in inclusive classrooms

Young children’s perspectives on resolving social exclusion within inclusive classrooms

“…We listened directly to the narratives of 45 children (within an age range of 6-8 years) with or at risk of SEBD, thus respecting the right of children to participate in research (UNESCO, 2015). Whereas this specific target group experiences challenges with their social participation within the mainstream classroom (Adderley et al, 2015;Henke et al, 2017). Using a Q methodological approach (Watts & Stenner, 2012), we could explore the preferences from a child perspective.…”

“…It is known that children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) are at risk to experience difficulties with their social participation within the (inclusive) classroom (Adderley et al, 2015;Henke et al, 2017). The majority of these children are less accepted by their peers (Ruijs & Peetsma, 2009) and face a greater degree of rejection than children without SEBD in their attempts to interact with the latter (Ladd, Ladd, Visconti, & Ettekal, 2012;Ruijs, Peetsma, & van der Veen, 2010).…”

What do Dutch general education teachers do to facilitate the social participation of students with SEBD?

“…Studies have shown that students with SEBD are less accepted and have fewer friends than their typically developing (TD) peers (Avramidis 2013). They also have fewer interactions with their peers (Henke et al 2017), and their self-perception of acceptance is significantly lower than that of their TD peers (Bossaert et al 2012). In light of the definition of positive social participation formulated by , these studies indicate that students with SEBD are more likely to experience a poor social participation compared with that of their TD peers.…”

“…Other examples within the literature on teachers' strategies include seeking and acquiring support within the school team (Botha and Kourkoutas 2016), promoting parental involvement (Abrams and Gibbs 2002), promoting positive teacher-student relationships (Pianta, Hamre, and Allen 2012), construct individual education plans for students (Tod 1999) and teachers' own professionalisation (Florian 2008). Other studies underscore the importance of daily contact and interactions with each student to enable them acquire acceptance and establish friendships (Frostad and Pijl 2007) and realise a realistic social self-perception (Bossaert et al 2012;Henke et al 2017). Contact and interactions can be stimulated by applying forms of cooperative learning (Odom, McConnell, and Chandler 1993), for instance peer tutoring (Kamps et al 2002) or interventions such as the 'Circle of Friends' approach (Frederickson and Turner 2003).…”

Internalizing Behavior of Sociometrically Neglected Students in Inclusive Primary Classrooms – A Methodological Issue?

“…In view of the educational placement of students with SEN in mainstream schools, a major challenge and goal for education policy and educators is the successful social inclusion of these children. The importance of the topic has been emphasized in previous studies, where it is assumed that students with SEN are an at-risk group for social exclusion in mainstream schools (Frostad et al, 2011;Krull et al, 2014;Garrote et al, 2017;Henke et al, 2017). However, proper conceptualization and measurement of social inclusion of students with SEN is the subject of an ongoing debate (Chambers and Kay, 1992;Frederickson et al, 2007;Koster et al, 2009;Gerullis and Huber, 2018).…”