Theory of mind development in school environment: A case of children with mild intellectual disability learning in inclusive and special education classrooms

Abstract

Background This longitudinal study examines the extent to which a school classroom (inclusive vs. special education) is meaningful for theory of mind (ToM) development among children with mild intellectual disability. Materials and Methods The participant group consisted of 166 primary school‐aged children (M = 8.1, SD = 0.99), 79 of whom attended inclusive classrooms; the remaining 87 were in special education classrooms. Results Although all children developed ToM over time, children's learning of ToM in inclusive classrooms was significantly greater than that seen in special classrooms. The difference remained significant after controlling for age. The present authors have compared children's individual and family characteristics, but there were almost no differences between groups. Conclusions The present authors discuss the results in the light of their importance for children's cognitive and social development. The implications for children's education are also considered.

Inclusive Education of Students With General Learning Difficulties: A Meta-Analysis

“…Due to the inconsistency of specific diagnostic criteria used across the primary studies, we included all studies explicitly examining students with GLD as the common ground. In some studies, GLD in several subjects were associated with general intellectual difficulty, defined as an average IQ between about 60 and 90 (e.g., Cardona, 1997;Dessemontet et al, 2012;Smogorzewska et al, 2019). Studies that did not report IQ were included when students were described as poorly achieving in more than one school subject (e.g., Bakker et al, 2007;Gorges et al, 2018;Kocaj et al, 2014;Szumski & Karwowski, 2014;.…”

Barreras y facilitadores para la inclusión educativa de personas con discapacidad intelectual

“…Estudios recientes internacionales demuestran que las aulas inclusivas deben ser la única opción para el alumnado con DI ya que los entornos inclusivos promueven su desarrollo cognitivo y social (Nota et al, 2018;Scharenberg et al, 2019;Smogorzewska et al, 2019). Sin embargo, los resultados hallados en la revisión sistemática de Kuntz y Carter (2019) resaltan que las acciones educativas son insuficientes en las aulas inclusivas para atender a todas las necesidades.…”

“…La relación entre compañeros es un factor que determina el desarrollo académico y social de las personas con DI en las escuelas (Wang y Eccles, 2012). Los estudios destacan que las experiencias sociales positivas promueven el bienestar y la calidad de vida de los estudiantes con DI (Scharenberg et al, 2019;Smogorzewska et al, 2019). Wilson et al (2017) constatan que las personas con DI están felices cuando se sienten incluidas y tienen amistades.…”

Special Education and General Education Teacher Perceptions of Collaborative Teaching Responsibilities and Attitudes Towards an Inclusive Environment in Jordan

“…This convention stressed the right for the inclusion of SWDs with other students, equal access to schools, and provision of accommodations on all levels of learning (Lyons et al, 2016). This protocol proposed by the convention for inclusive education has shown great benefits for SWDs including an increase in academic skills (Szumski and Karwowski, 2015;Van Hove, 2015;Schnepel et al, 2020), sense of belonging (Potter, 2015;Garrote, 2017;Snipstad, 2019), participation (Potter, 2015;Snipstad, 2019), and emotional and cognitive development (Potter, 2015;Smogorzewska et al, 2019).…”