Students with special needs and the composition of their peer group

One of the effects of implementing inclusive education is that the composition of the peer group of students with disabilities has changed from one consisting of only such students to one with no, or very few, students with disabilities. The question arises as to the implications of this situation for their social relations and self-concept. In order to answer this question, two reviews were conducted: one focusing on students' social relations and the other on students' self-concept. These reviews showed that students with learning disabilities in particular run the risk of being isolated from their peers in regular education and developing a negative self-concept. One of the potential options for intervention is to rearrange the composition of the peer group by combining a minority of students with disabilities with a majority of students without disabilities. This may provide the former with more varied opportunities to build relationships and more varied frames of reference for developing their self-concept.