THE SOCIAL POSITION AND PEER ACCEPTANCE OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISTIC DISABILITIES IN PRIMARY SCHOOL

Pozitivni odnosi med vrstniki v razredu imajo ključno vlogo v otrokovem socialnem razvoju, kajti prav težave v odnosih z vrstniki so lahko, kot kažejo rezultati različnih raziskav, prediktor težav s prilagajanjem v odraslosti (Pečjak in Košir, 2008). Tako številni raziskovalci preučujejo socialni položaj ter socialno integracijo otrok s posebnimi potrebami v redne osnovne šole, vendar pa je predvsem v našem okolju le malo raziskav usmerjenih na raziskovanje socialnega položaja in integracije otrok z avtističnimi motnjami, ki bi glede na težave pri socialnem delovanju potrebovali večjo mero pozornosti. Namen naše raziskave je bil zatorej ugotoviti, kakšen je socialni položaj učencev z avtističnimi motnjami v rednih osnovnih šolah in kako jih sprejemajo vrstniki. V raziskavi je sodelovalo 244 učencev starih med 8 in 15 let iz 13 oddelkov rednih osnovnih šol, od tega 7 učencev z diagnozo avtistične motnje. Oddelke smo razdelili na integracijske in kontrolne glede na prisotnost otrok z avtističnimi motnjami v razredu. Od tega je bilo 7 integracijskih razredov, v katerih so vključeni učenci z avtističnimi motnjami ter 6 kontrolnih razredov, v katerih ni vključenih otrok z avtističnimi motnjami. Uporabljena je bila sociometrične preizkušnja in Gashev anketni vprašalnik (1996, str. 296, 297povz. po Čagran in Schmidt, 2006). Skupno gledano rezultati kažejo, da otroci z avtističnimi motnjami v splošnem zavzemajo bolj neugodne socialne položaje, imajo malo vzajemnih izbir in vrstniki zanje menijo, da so pogosteje žrtve nasilja. Rezultati vprašalnika so pokazali, da med integracijskimi in kontrolnimi razredi ni pomembnih razlik v pripravljenosti za druženje in oceni primernosti učenja otrok z avtističnimi motnjami v rednih osnovnih šolah, rezultati pa kažejo bolj v prid integraciji. Kot pomembna dejavnika razlik pri ocenjevanju pa sta se izkazala starost in spol učencev. Predstavljeni so tudi predlogi za pomoč socialno nesprejetim učencem in izhodišča za nadaljnje raziskovanje.Positive relationships between peers in the classroom play a key role in the child’s social development because difficulties in relationships with peers can be as seen through results of research a factor with difficulties when adjusting in grown-up relationships (Pečjak and Košir, 2008). Therefore numerous researchers study the social position and the social integration of children with special needs in regular primary schools. However, especially in our environment there is little research dedicated to social position and the social integration of children with autistic disabilities who would require a greater measure of attention based on the difficulties in social interactions. The purpose of this investigation is to find out, what is the position of children with autistic disabilities in primary schools and how they are accepted by their peers. The research included 244 pupils aged between 8 and 15 from the 13 departments of the regular primary schools. Among these 7 of the classes were integration classes which include children with autistic disabilities and 6 control classes which held no children with autistic difficulties. The sociometric test and Gash questionnaire was used (1996, p. 296, 297, summary according to Čagran and Schmidt, 2006). The collected results point to the fact that children with autistic disabilities in general take less convenient social positions have little choices and the peers are of the opinion that they are often victims of violence. The results of the questionnaires show that there are no important differences between the integration and regular classes when it comes to readiness for socialising and the grade of readiness of teaching children with autistic deficiencies in regular primary schools, but the results are more in favour of the integration. An important factor of differences in grading turned out to be the age and sex of the pupils. Also presented are suggestions for helping the socially outcast students and the starting points for further research