Effect of social games on class social structure in the third triad of primary school with adapted programme for children with special needs

Building adequate social relationships and learning about them is very important in our society. Nowadays social games are often used in schools, especially to enhance good behaviour and improve relationships between students. By learning social skills in school we can improve the quality of life for our students during schooling as they will feel accepted in their class and as a result feel better about themselves. In addition, social games give them knowledge that they can use in adulthood and as a result they can find their place in society. The purpose of the study was to determine the influence of social games on coherence between pupils in the class in last three grades of primary school for children with mild intellectual disability. End of primary school is the time when personal relationships and friendships become very important for the adolescent. Some of this friendships may even last a lifetime. This survey gives us an insight into classroom relationships and shows us how to reduce the exclusion of certain pupils. This way we can offer them the same chance of building a friendship or at least give all the pupils an opportunty to get to know their classmates well. We also wanted to determine if social games in school improve pupils’ behaviour towards their classmates and other people. For the assessment of coherence between pupils in the class we used one-dimensional sociometric test. This test gave the data which allowed us to calculate the group cohesiveness index and the sociometric status for every individual. In addition to the sociometric test we also used a checklist for positive behaviour for each individual. The study included three classes from two primary schools that offer programme for children with mild intellectual disability. We included one 7th grade with 8 pupils, a combination of 8th and 9th grade with 10 pupils and a combination of 7th, 8th and 9th grade with 5 pupils. The collected data was statistically processed and the results are shown in graphs and tables. On the basis of the results obtained we were not able to statistically confirm that the social games affect classroom’s cohesion. Group cohesiveness indexes did not change for any of the groups after the implementation of the social games. But group cohesiveness indexes were medium to high from the beginning of the research, which means that classes were quite coherent from the beginning. The number of excluded pupils decreased in the combination of 8th and 9th grade, which is a big success for the class. With this achievement we helped previously excluded pupils to be able to devote themselves to school work and feel better among their classmates. The number of mutual choices among students before and after the implementation of social games did not change. Mutual choices between pupils were common from the beginning of the research. In the class of 8 pupils there were four mutual choices. Four mutual choices were present in the class of 5 pupils as well. Last but not least there were six mutual choices in a class of 10 pupils. The stability of these mutual choices shows a certain continuity of the relationships between certain pupils. We have noticed a difference in the sociometric statuses before and after the implementation of the social games. In the first measurement there were 8 pupils with a low sociometric status. After the social games there were 7 pupils left. However, the change in sociometric statuses is not statistically significant. But there was a statistically significant difference shown in the quantity of positive behaviour amongst pupils after the implementation of social games. The quantity of positive behaviour was higher after the use of social games in the class