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The Development of Social Competence in Students with General Learning Difficulties in Early Primary Grades: The Necessity of Psychological Support Programmes in Schools

Authors :
Ilias Vasileiadis
Ioanna Dimitriadou
Spyros Koutras
Georgios Vleioras
Source :
Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs. 2024 24(3):578-596.
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

Students with General Learning Difficulties present low levels of social competence. In order to increase them, students participate in school psychological support programmes. There are no research data available in Greece regarding social competence in students with General Learning Difficulties in the first grades of elementary school. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the efficiency of an intervention programme, which focused on strengthening their social competence, in the first grades of primary school. The levels of social competence of the students were evaluated before and after the implementation of an 8-month social empowerment programme, following a mixed-methods approach with the use of semi-structured interviews and observation in the school context. The participants were 21 students with General Learning Difficulties, 18 education professionals, whose classes the 21 students attended, together with the 21 parents of these students (one parent per student). The results showed that the social competence of the participants was low before and that it increased after their participation in the intervention programme. In addition, girls had higher social competence than boys both before and after their participation in the intervention programme. These results highlight the benefits of classroom intervention programmes for children with General Learning Difficulties.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1471-3802
Volume :
24
Issue :
3
Database :
ERIC
Journal :
Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
EJ1429969
Document Type :
Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-3802.12653