Inclusion Literature & Bibliotherapy Marina Louari Marita Paparousi

 School community must include all students, despite different abilities, ethnicity or socioeconomic status  Positive attitudes toward disabilities are a fundamental factor for providing an inclusion programme  Children’s books can be a useful tool for teachers’ attempts to increase children’s acceptance of previously segregated students

A lot of research has been conducted in order to investigate children’s attitudes towards disabilities. The results are ambiguous:  Positive impact (Roberts & Lindsell, 1997; Chadbourne, 1997; Clunies- Ross & O’Meara, 1989; McGregor & Forlin, 2005)  No impact (Hasting & Graham, 1995; Howell, 1996; McGregor & Forlin, 2005)

However, an intervention programme is implemented in order to:  increase awareness of disabilities  remove prejudices  provide opportunities for social interaction between students with and without disabilities, (Hasting & Graham, 1995; Howell, 1996, McGregor & Forlin, 2005)  attitudes turn to be more favourable (Clunies – Ross & O’Meara, 1989, McGregor & Forlin, 2005).

Children’s literature can be used in order to:  help children to understand or handle difficult situations  increase children’s literacy through authentic texts  present themes which until now have been considered taboos, but nowadays these themes are the beginning of a thoughtful dialogue and contemplation on current issues  children can find out that there are other children with who have shared the same problems, feelings and thoughts  get in touch with reality, which they might know from the media, but the approach through literature is more affective

Teachers and researchers use children’s books in order to sensitize students towards disability or for bibliotherapy  Inclusion Literature refers to children’s literature books which are about disabilities  Bibliotherapy is a technique of reading and discussing books that can help students solve or cope with emotional or developmental problems

Baskin and Harris (1984) have stated, children’s literature can prove an essential method because: Baskin and Harris (1984) have stated, children’s literature can prove an essential method because:  It can be implemented immediately and at no cost  Teachers can incorporate it into their school programme  It is a basic subject of the National Curriculum  Reading literature can promote identification with characters of the story, modelling appropriate behaviours and interaction with others  Stories can be adjusted to children’s personal needs

A book must meet the following requirements in order to be implemented an intervention programme (Blaska, 2005) :  Promoting empathy, not sympathy  Depicting acceptance, not ridicule  Emphasizing success  Promoting positive images of persons with disabilities  Assisting children in gaining accurate understanding  Demonstrating respect for persons with disabilities  Promoting the attitude “one of us” not “one of them”  Using language which stresses the person first, disability-second philosophy  Describing the disability or the person with disability in a realistic way

The Literature book must depict disability in a positive and realistic way. That means: persons with disabilities persons with disabilities  must have high expectations  develop mutual relationships  have the right of choice  share the same rights with others the plot the plot  must not focus on disability but on similarities, which exist between children with and without disabilities  emphasize the use of their abilities and capabilities

In order to be implemented this programme in our class, the following steps should take place:  Discussion about the plot of the story (Who, Where, When, Why)  Discussion about disability  Retelling the story and correlating it with children’s previous experiences  Focusing on similarities between hero with disability and the reader  Conversation about adjusted technology (if it is necessary)  Conversation about reader’s expectations

The aim of this programme was:  The assessment of eleven-year-old students’ knowledge about the characteristics of a child with Syndrome Down.  The investigation of students’ attitudes towards a peer (or a classmate) with Syndrome Down.  The use of a children’s Literature book in order to improve students’ knowledge about disabilities and try to change their way of thinking toward a peer (or classmate) with Syndrome Down.

Sample: 73 eleven-year old students (33 boys – 40 girls) Material :  A Questionnaire (20 questions measure attitudes and knowledge)  A Literature book (A sister with special needs, Klaude Helft)  Classroom writing activities

All of us we have virtues and faults, but our friends love us. I try to think and write my faults and my virtues. Faults ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ………… Virtues …………………… ………………….. ………………….

If you are good with others then you have good friends. What can I do, in order to be a good friend?  What I want to do with my friend …..  When I am unhappy my friend …..  What I don’t want my friends do ….  The best which I have done for my friend is ….  The worst which I have done for my friend is ….  I would have been better friend if ….

Think and write a catalogue of words, which we use for persons who speak, see, move or think in a different way than others. ……………………………………………………………

You are Nelli’s schoolmate. Write a letter to her mother and describe your first day at school.

You are friends with Nelli. What do you want to do together? Is there something which you want to avoid?  I want or I would like ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ………………………  I would not like ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ………………………

Description of the intervention  The questionnaire was administered by the students (pre-test)  A conversation was contacted, based on the title and the illustration of the book  Students were asked to guess the plot and talk about their expectations  During reading, the researcher asked questions  After reading, students were engaged in discussions  Reflective writing activities connect the reader and the text  The same questionnaire was administered again (post- test)

The results have shown some important findings:  Deficiency in knowledge  Students cannot understand the behavior of a child with special needs  Typical behaviors of a child with Syndrome Down, have been considered inappropriate and disapproving.  This misconception has driven students in frustration of their expectations

 The methodic and well designed contact can boost acceptance and improve attitudes  Limited peer relationship may lead not only to emotional but also to behavioral problems  A child with Syndrome Down may have a lot of friends at school  But, out of school setting, he or she isn’t social active and doesn’t interact with his or her peers  Children with disabilities are usually alone and more often dropped out.

Future research:  The role of the text in children’s awareness and understanding about disability  Children’s attitudes towards a real person with disabilities

Limitations:  The number of the sample was restricted  The time of the intervention was not enough, so we could not analyze the theme in detail  The pre and post tests were given in a short time  Students usually answer more positively when they do not know the person  The given information and the related book activities about disabilities are not enough to change students’ attitudes

However,  This intervention was a significant attempt, as regards school children’s awareness of disability  Students were interested in taking part in another programme in order to have the opportunity to collaborate and interact with a child with a disability.

Thank you