Teaching Social Skills to Children with Special Educational Needs in A Greek Sample

Background/purpose. It has been established that students with special educational needs should have equal opportunities for learning with the rest of the formal developmental students in a common school, regardless of their characteristics or difficulties. In an environment that promotes normal physical and emotional well-being, mental development, and cognitive and social skills acquisition for all children. Inclusive education must prioritize social inclusion and ensure individuals' seamless integration into social processes to prevent social exclusion. This study aims to enhance social and emotional skills in students with special educational needs, regarding their personality traits, cognitive and psychological development.

Materials/methods. This quantitative study used a questionnaire conducted in the West Macedonia prefecture in Greece. The academic Teacher Report Scale for Children's 'Test of Psychosocial Adjustment' by Hatzichristou et al. (2011) was used. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed. After confirming acceptable internal consistency of the scales through Cronbach's reliability analyses, the study dimensions were calculated, and Pearson correlation coefficient tests were performed between them. The sample was recruited using a convenience/opportunity sampling method, where the participating teachers were available and suitable given the time and financial constraints.

Results. The teachers in both special and general education viewed students with mild special educational needs as often being friendly and having a lot of friends.

Conclusion. Teachers agreed that all teaching methods were effective or very effective. They had a strong agreement on the effectiveness of hypothetical social situation scenarios. They assist a student in dealing with a realistic scenario of everyday life where they need to choose a way to react.

Keywords: Children with special educational needs, inclusion, social skills

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