Transcript Slide 1

“A considerable body of research suggests that, although
children are sometimes rejected by peers for nonbehavioural reasons such as physical stigmata, behaviour
plays a substantial, if not overriding, role.” (p466) (Parker, et al, 2006)
Peer attitudes to Social, Emotional
and Behavioural Difficulties (SEBD)
March 2011
Rachel Dubsky
“Aggressive behaviours appear to place children at highest risk
for peer rejection when they occur along with a broad pattern
of emotionally reactive, disruptive, and unskilled behaviour”
(p466) (Parker, et al, 2006)
SEBD’s are the least accepted disability; largely because
students with these behaviours are perceived as being a
problem, rather than having a problem.
(Heary, C. & Hennessey, E. 2005)
•ADHD and ASD
•Acting out vs acting in
•Gender
•Mitigating ‘popularity qualifiers’
Research questions:
1. How do mainstream year 7 students feel about being in classes with peers
exhibiting SEBD’s?
2. What do these same mainstream students believe is the cause of SEBDs in their
peers, and what do they think should be done about their SEBD behaviours, by
whom.
3. Do these same mainstream students’ attitudes to their peers with SEBDs
become more accommodating after they are given information about what it is
like to experience ADHD and Aspergers first hand, and encouraged to think
creatively and co-operatively about improving these experiences?
Meet the vignette peers:
Kim
Jake
Jenny
Tom
Kerry and
Charlie
Meet the vignette peers:
Who do you think the
majority of year 7
Kim
students would most
Jake
prefer NOT to be in a
Jenny
Tom
Kerry and
Charlie
class with?
Accepted (most to least)
Rejected (least to most)
Charlie (1)
Kerry (3) - ASD
Jenny (2)
Kim (4)
Jake (5) - ADHD
Tom (6)
Most happy
Least happy
No impact/ harm
Dangerous/ physical threat/ hurt me
Nice/normal/average
Disruptive
How happy students felt about being in a class with the vignette peers:
Neutral
If we break down the term 3 response into test and control groups, we find that in each
instance the attitude of the test group was more positive towards the vignette peers than
that of the control group, although for Jake, both group’s happiness at association had
decreased.
Term 1
Term 3
Term 3 test
Term 3 control
Charlie
5.1
5.3
5.4
5.1
Jenny
3.6
3.9
3.9
3.8
Kerry
2.6
3.0
3.2
2.8
Kim
2.1
2.3
2.4
2.1
Jake
1.9
1.7
1.8
1.7
Tom
1.4
1.5
1.5
1.4
Student comments about Jake:
Comments from term three:
student
15
19
happiness
3
2
fit
1
1
T/C
C
"He doesn't because he should go to a school like {Local SEBD school}." "Send him to a
naughty school where they will treat him bad but not too bad."
C
"When other people are working hard the teacher does not notice the hard worker and
only notices the bad behaving boy."
92
1
1
T
"he causes other kids pain and causes trouble to get attention." "He could have ADHD...
Put him in a special behaviour school."
148
2
2
T
"He isn't very happy."
31
1
2
C
"He might fit in with kids that think being stupid is cool, so he has his 'silly moods' more
often."
147
3
3
T
"He isn't trying to be bad he just wants attention."
100
2
3
T
"He doesn't do it all the time but when he does it's distracting for other children...ADHD."
128
2
3
T
"People pretend to be his friend so he does stuff for them."
26
2
4
C
"Give him some more fun and interactive thing to do… not everybody has the patience
to sit and to work all the time."
86
2
4
T
"He might just have a problem with that but he could be good at something else."
Where students specifically stated they felt Jake had ADHD...
"He might have a problem (ADHD)."
"He might have 1 or 2 friends but not many." (ADHD)
"he causes other kids pain and causes trouble to get attention." "He could have ADHD... Put him in a special
behaviour school."
"He doesn't do it all the time but when he does it's distracting for other children...ADHD."
"he just needs support."
"probably people hate him a lot... Has got ADHD."
"because he stops people learning." "He has ADHD... Give him a support teacher."
Even though the seven respondents who stated a belief that Jake had ADHD were
more personally accepting overall, they actually had a lower perception of his fit than
the average respondent and two of the seven suggested some form of exclusion.
Student comments about Kerry:
Comments from term three:
student
happiness
fit
T/C
156
6
1
T
"Everybody teases her... I could tease her too."
16
3
1
C
"sounds like a freak."
82
2
1
C
"Put her in a class where everyone is not normal."
117
1
1
T
"she has different interests and is different to everyone else."
49
3
2
C
"She could have farming friends but townies would think her weird."
179
2
2
T
"She wouldn't have any mates, so why come to school."
31
2
2
C
"She might have friends that want her for her 'work answers' so she tags along with
them but really she does not like them."
14
2
2
C
"She needs to calm down and needs to improve her social skills."
42
3
3
C
"She's only a girl and that's her hobby… she gets angry yes, but she's a girl."
147
3
4
T
"She works but she can't take a joke."
122
2
3
T
"It's not cool to talk about pig farming."
(By teacher or other adults)
What should be done about
Jake and Kerry ?
Exclude / send to special school
Isolate
Time out / Change class
Involve parents / Head
Correct 'X' / discipline / Stop them
Monitor
Nothing / back off / do not react
Change teaching approach
Correct others
Talk & ask / Help / extra support / new skills
Encourage / boost confidence / praise / reward
I don't know
Jake
Term 1
Term 3
Change teaching
approach
Change teaching
approach
Exclude/ Send to
special school
(permanent)
Time out/ Change class
(brief)
Exclude/ Send to
special school
(permanent)
Talk & ask/ Help/ Extra
support/ new skills
Talk & ask/ Help/ Extra
support/ new skills
Time out/ Change class
(brief)
Involve parents/ Head
Involve parents/ Head
Isolate/ Suspend
(sustained)
Correct/ discipline/ stop
them
Correct/ discipline/
stop them
Isolate/ Suspend
(sustained)
Kerry
Term 3
Term 1
Nothing/ back off/
do not react
Nothing/ back off/ do
not react
Change/ correct
others
Change/ correct
others
Talk & ask/ Help/ Extra
support/ new skills
Correct/ discipline/
stop them
Talk & ask/ Help/
Extra support/ new
skills
Correct/ discipline/
stop them
References:
Heary, C. and Hennessy, E. (2005) ‘Developmental changes in children’s understanding of psychological problems: a
qualitative study’, Presentation at the Annual Conference of the Psychological Society of Ireland, Galway, November
2005.
Parker, J., Rubin, K., Erath, S., Wojslawowicz, J. and Buskirk, A. (2006) ‘Peer Relationships, Child Development, and
Adjustment: A Developmental Psychopathology Perspective’ in Cicchetti, D. and Cohen, D. (Eds) Developmental
Pyschopathology: Theory and Method, New Jersey: John Wiley. Accessible at http://www.rubinlab.umd.edu/pubs/Downloadable%20pdfs/kenneth_rubin/peers%20interactions%20and%20relationships/Peer%20Relationships,%20Chil
d%20Development,%20and%20Adjustment.pdf
Visser, J. and Dubsky, R. (2009) 'Peer attitudes to SEBD in a secondary mainstream school', Emotional and Behavioural
Difficulties, 14: 4, 315 — 324
Recommended:
Bierman, K. (2006) Peer Rejection: Developmental processes and intervention strategies. New York and London: The
Guilford Press.
Cigman, R. (Ed) (2007). Included or Excluded? The challenge of the mainstream for some SEN children, London and
New York: Routledge.
Humphrey, N. and Lewis, S. (2008) ‘”Make me Normal”: The views and experiences of pupils on the Autistic Spectrum
in Mainstream Secondary Schools.’ Autism. 12(23).
Kalambouka, A., Farrell, P., Dyson, A. and Kaplan, I. (2007) ‘The impact of placing pupils with special educational needs
in mainstream schools on the achievement of their peers’, Educational Research, 49(4) p.365 – 382