The Success of Individual Integration of the Pupils with a Mild Mental Retardation at the Primary School

The goal of the bachelor thesis The Success of Individual Integration of the Pupils with a Mild Mental Retardation at the Primary School was to define the concept the success of individual integration of the pupils with a mild mental retardation at the primary school and find out what the situation is at the selected schools. Consequently, the first chapter concentrates on the issues of the mental retardations, namely on the definition of the term a mental retardation and the characteristics of the pupils with a mild mental retardation. That means in particular the specifics of cognitive processes, personality, physical state and education. The attention is dedicated to the integration of the pupils with a mild mental retardation in the following chapter, primarily to the definition of the term integration, its meaning and the factors which influence its success. Based on the study of the professional literature, four criteria are consequently defined, on whose base it could be possible to consider the success of individual integration of pupils with a mild mental retardadion in particular situations. Problems in every of these areas mean danger or even make the integration impossible. The pieces of knowledge achieved on the base of the study of the professional literature were applied in the terms of the own conducted research. A qualitative strategy was chosen for this purpose; namely the design of the case studies, which makes it possible to discover the nuances of the individual cases and provides enough space for the description of its specifics. To get the data which are needed to consider the success of integration the methods of document analysis, observation, questioning and sociometry were used. The research took place in the school year 2013/ 2014 at three primary schools in South Bohemia Region. Two individual integrated female pupils, one from the 2nd and one from the 3rd class and one individual integrated pupil from the 4th class were involved in the research. Also their class teachers and classmates took part. The individual classes were attended by 24, 20 and 13 pupils. To sum up, there were 3 integrated pupils with a mild mental retardation, 3 class teachers and 57 schoolmates involved in the research. After the studying of the professional literature and based on the information which were gained by the implemented research, it seems from my point of view that the integration of the female pupil B. from the 2nd class was successful; especially from the reason that I did not find any serious problems in the terms of the component criteria for evaluating the success of integration. I consider the integration of the female pupil A. from the 3rd class and the pupil D. from the 4th class rather as unsuccessful. Relationships with their schoolmates represented the biggest barrier of the successful integration. In both cases serious problems were found in the area of social relationships between the integrated pupil and his or her mates, which manifested themselves in the form of ignoring, refusing or ridicule. In the case of the female pupil A., her subjective dissatisfaction with the given situation is obvious. Although the integration belongs now to one of the trends of the school politics, its successfulness, or unsuccessfulness is not sufficiently solved. The bachelor thesis points out problems which can appear during the integration of the pupils with a mild mental retardation at the primary school. Their presence is a signal which should be not ignored by the subjects interested. In a long term prospect they can cause the worsened quality of the educational process not only of the integrated pupil, but also of the other schoolmates. In the worse case it can cause also the deterioration of the social relationships in the class, what is reflected in a negative way in the general attitude and climate. The bachelor thesis should primarily serve as an impulse to solve these issues