Units of Analysis of Social Interaction Outcomes in Supported Education

Abstract

In spite of increased advocacy efforts, demonstrations, and consumer demand for supported education, there is a paucity of empirical research that investigates the predicted outcomes of this model. The rationale for supported education is based largely on increasing social participation, acceptance, and friendships between stu dents with severe disabilities and nondisabled students. This article discusses several issues that underlie the development of measurement systems to evaluate the social effects of supported education. We believe that it is essential to measure the outcomes of supported edu cation (i.e., increased acceptance, social participation, and levels of friendships) as well as the process variables (e.g., specific social interaction skills) that are pivotal in creating the outcomes. An assessment model for out come and process variables is described. Within this model, social interaction skills, organizational support characteristics, and contextual features are viewed as pivotal events in attaining valued outcomes.There is increased call for participation of students with severe disabilities in the mainstream of life in regular schools. This call for increased participation includes placement in regular classes as well as partici pation in more purely social/leisure contexts such as eating lunch in integrated settings, attending school assemblies and social events, incidental social interac tions during unstructured break times, and participa tion in nonschool activities. The need to increase par ticipation in the fabric of regular school life is summa rized by TASH policy statements that "encourage schools and education departments to develop sup ported education approaches to ensure that students with severe disabilities are educated with students who

Self-Determination for Individuals with the Most Severe Disabilities: Moving beyond Chimera

“…An intervention plan is then developed based on the results of the functional assessment and typically including multiple components (Lucyshyn, Horner, & Ben, 1996), many of which relate to changing an individual's lifestyle, arranging the environment to allow the student more control of daily events, and teaching the individual skills that would support this increased control over daily and long-term events (Gothelf & Brown, in press). Finally, the evaluation phase of positive supports encourages looking at qualitative outcomes of behavior change rather than at narrow quantitative measures of a single target behavior (Haring & Breen, 1989;Meyer & Evans, 1989;Meyer & Janney, 1989).…”

“…When the sender has limited ability to communicate clear messages and limited ability to seek clarification, the message may be misunderstood. Individuals with profound cognitive and physical disabilities and/or deaf-blindness may not develop expressive language skills beyond those of a young child (Haring & Breen, 1989). Furthermore, the presence of physical disabilities may result in a restricted range of gestures and facial expression.…”

Taylor's Story: Full Inclusion in Her Neighborhood Elementary School

“…We coded the social interactions on the videotapes using an observational schema derived both from Haring and Breen's (1989) four pivotal measures of social interaction (social initiation, response, number of turns, and duration of interaction) and Stoneman, Brody, Davis, and Crapps's (1989) observational system. In this categorization schema, we watched to see if Taylor initiated a communicative exchange by giving, showing, or offering an object to a peer or teacher (i.e., offering chocolate milk to someone beside her at the lunch table).…”

“…Based on Haring and Breen's (1989) work on process units of analysis, we chose settings for videotaping that would represent a range of opportunities for social interaction. Thus, videotaping occurred during large-and small-group instruction, independent seat work, music, physical education, lunch, and playground activities.…”

Measuring the Activity Patterns of Adults with Severe Disabilities Using the Resident Lifestyle Inventory

“…While broad agreement on exactly what constitutes lifestyle measures for adults does not currently exist, potentially useful dimensions have been identified (Haring & Breen, 1990;Inge, Banks, Wehman, Hill, & Shafer, 1988;Kennedy, Horner, & Newton, 1989;, Kishi, Teelucksingh, Zollers, Park-Lee, & Meyer, 1988Matson & Rusch, 1986;Sailor, Gee, Goetz, & Graham, 1988;Schalock, Keith, Hoffman, & Karan, 1989). Sev eral recent efforts to measure lifestyle have focused on the activity patterns of individuals (Aveno, 1987a(Aveno, , 1987bFelce, de Kock, & Repp, 1986;Mansell, Felce, de Kock, & Jenkins, 1982;O'Neill, Brown, Gordon, & Schonhorn, 1985;O'Neill, Brown, Gordon, Schonhorn, & Greer, 1981).…”