Supporting pupils with moderate, severe and profound intellectual disabilities with comorbid depression in a special education programme

Mental disorders have an important impact on an individual's functioning as a whole and his quality of life. In individuals with intellectual disabilities mental disorders are even more common, as they are a part of a group which is even more susceptible to this comorbidity. In the Master’s thesis, we would like to dedicate more attention to children and adolescents with moderate, severe and profound intellectual disabilities and comorbid depression, which is one of the most common mental disorders. The main theme of this Master’s thesis is the help and support for the pupils with moderate, severe and profound intellectual disabilities and depression, who are included in a special education programme. By leaning on literature we presented in the theoretical part what intellectual disabilities are, how they differ from mental disorders, but we also presented in more detail what depression is. Furthermore, we focused on depression and its comorbidity with intellectual disabilities in children and adolescents with moderate, severe and profound intellectual disabilities and different possible forms of support for these pupils. In the empirical part of the Master’s thesis we explored the comorbidity of intellectual disabilities and depression in pupils in special education programme and the different forms of help and support, with the help of a questionnaire, intended for special and rehabilitation pedagogues, who work in special education programmes. We gathered 49 special and rehabilitation pedagogues’ responses. In the anonymous survey, we asked about the frequency of the mentioned comorbidity in the special education programme, how this comorbidity affects the functioning of pupils at school, what different forms of help and support they provide and what is the role of special and rehabilitation pedagogue in this process. The results point out that comorbidity of intellectual disabilities and mental disorders in children and adolescents in special education programme are intertwined, and they also highlight the importance of collaboration between different experts who work with the pupils and their parents. The surveyed special and rehabilitation pedagogues most frequently notice depression in pupils with moderate intellectual disabilities between ages 15 and 20. Most often these pupils are in bad mood, but only rarely special pedagogues notice them crying or yelling. Undesirable behaviour was the most common atypical symptom of depression in these pupils. The most common form of support for these pupils turned out to be individual support at school, although medication for depression is also used fairly often. Special and rehabilitation pedagogues are most often the ones who are included in the support for these pupils and most often they use individual adjustments for each pupil inside the classroom