'Circle of friends' as a strategy for the improvement of peer acceptance of children with disabilities

Abstract

Placing the stress on the development of interventions whose aim is to achieve academic success, teachers in regular classes can neglect the important aspects of school experience - social and emotional life of a child. If the inclusion of children with disabilities into regular class activities is not actively dealt with, they can be only physically included in regular classes, but stay socially and psychologically secluded. The aim of this paper is to introduce 'circle of friends' as one of the strategies for the improvement of peer acceptance of children with disabilities. An additional goal pertains to this strategy's efficiency evaluation, based on the results of research hitherto performed. The pieces of information related to the portrayal and the effects of 'circle of friends' have been gathered based on a research of electronic database. Those papers where the objectives and the manner of realization of 'circle of friends' are described, as well as the papers which display qualitative and/or quantitative evaluation of this strategy's application have been taken into consideration. 'Circle of friends' represents an intervention whose intent is to increase the inclusion of a child into the regular educational surroundings, relying on the engagement of peers in providing support and solving problems for a child who finds it difficult to get involved in peer collective for some reason. In the hitherto performed research, several crucial steps in the realization of the 'circle' have been described. Even though their results point to the generally positive effects of this strategy on social acceptance and the behavior of children who have been in the focus of the intervention, a certain degree of intra group variability has been noted too, as well as a variability pertaining to the generalization and upkeep of positive effects. With the aim of gaining answers to the questions regarding the kind of children and conditions where 'circle of friends' gives positive effects, it is vital to continue working on the evaluation of the 'circle', paying attention not only to outcomes, but also to the processes lying in the base of the approach itself. For now, 'circle of friends' presents a promising approach with a view to increasing the peer acceptance of children with disabilities as well as to the prevention of deepening the existing and the emergence of new problems in peer behavior and relations.

Stavljanjem naglaska na razvoj intervencija čiji je cilj postizanje akademskog uspeha, nastavnici u redovnim odeljenjima mogu zapostaviti važne aspekte školskog iskustva - socijalni i emocionalni život deteta. Ukoliko se aktivno ne radi na uključivanju dece sa ometenošću u uobičajene odeljenske aktivnosti, ona mogu biti samo fizički uključena u redovna odeljenja, ali ostati socijalno i psihološki izolovana. Cilj ovog rada je da se predstavi 'krug prijatelja' kao jedna od strategija za unapređivanje vršnjačkog prihvatanja dece sa ometenošću. Dodatni cilj se odnosi na evaluaciju efikasnosti ove strategije na osnovu rezultata dosadašnjih istraživanja. Informacije u vezi sa opisom i efektima 'kruga prijatelja' prikupljene su pretraživanjem elektronskih izvora podataka. Razmatrani su oni radovi u kojima su opisani ciljevi i način realizacije 'kruga prijatelja', kao i radovi u kojima je prikazana kvalitativna i/ili kvantitativna evaluacija primene ove strategije. 'Krug prijatelja' predstavlja intervenciju čija je namena da se poveća uključenost deteta u redovno obrazovno okruženje oslanjajući se na angažovanje vršnjaka u obezbeđivanju podrške i rešavanju problema za detete koje, iz nekog razloga, ima teškoće da se uključi u vršnjački kolektiv. U literaturi je opisano nekoliko ključnih koraka za realizaciju 'kruga'. Iako rezultati dosadašnjih istraživanja ukazuju na generalno pozitivne efekte ove strategije na socijalnu prihvaćenost i ponašanje dece koja su bila u fokusu intervencije, uočena je i unutargrupna varijabilnost, ali i varijabilnost u pogledu generalizacije i održavanja pozitivnih efekata. U cilju dobijanja odgovora na pitanja za koju decu i pod kojim uslovima 'krug prijatelja' daje pozitivne efekte, neophodno je dalje raditi na evaluaciji 'kruga' uz usmeravanje pažnje ne samo na ishode, već i na procese koji stoje u osnovi samog pristupa. Zasad 'krug prijatelja' predstavlja obećavajući pristup u cilju povećanja vršnjačkog prihvatanja dece sa ometenošću, ali i prevencije produbljivanja i nastajanja novih problema u ponašanju i odnosima sa vršnjacima.