Including students with special educational needs (SEN) is a worldwide trend and a much-discussed issue in many countries. By signing and ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) of the United Nations (UN, 2006), nations are called to promote a sense of dignity and self-worth (Article 8), and to combat stereotypes and raise awareness of the capabilities and contributions of persons with disabilities (Article 24). Article 24 furthermore stresses the importance of increasing social acceptance of students with SEN.  However, research has shown that students with SEN do not always obtain a positive social participation (see: Koster et al., 2010). It has been reported that about 20-25 per cent of the students with SEN have fewer friends and are less accepted then their typically developing peers. As this may lead to negative short- and long-term effects (see for example: Jackson & Bracken, 1998; Lund et al., 2009), it is important to understand what causes the difficulties in social participation. One of the variables which seems to play an important role in the social participation are the attitudes of typically developing peers. It has been found that their attitudes relate to the acceptance and friendships of students with SEN (De Boer, Pijl, & Minnaert, 2012; Vignes, 2009). Based on this, it seems reasonable to promote more positive attitudes among peers, which may result in a better social participation of students with SEN.

In this symposium, intervention studies are presented which focus on promoting the social participation of students with SEN by improving attitudes of typically developing peers. The contributors of this symposium all designed and implemented a disability awareness program and evaluated  the effectiveness of the intervention. The presentations will be discussed by pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of each study.

The first presentation is about an intervention study conducted in Portugal and focuses on the feasibility and effects of a disability awareness program on attitudes of fifth-grade students (N= 51) using an experimental and a control condition.

In the second presentation a study conducted in the USA will be presented. The study focused on an intervention program called Making Friends. A longitudinal randomized control study was conducted to examine the impact on kindergarten children’s understanding of and attitudes toward peers with disabilities in 32 inclusive classrooms (N= 488).

The third presentation gives a blue-print and primarily results of the intervention program Everybody Belongs! This intervention program is currently implemented in The Netherlands and the study includes an experimental group and control group (Nexp.= 10, Ncontrol= 10). In this presentation teachers’ experiences about the feasibility, acceptability and treatment integrity will also be presented.

The fourth presentation presents outcomes of a disability awareness program implemented at five secondary schools (Nstudents= 323). The study presented focused on implicit and explicit attitudes of adolescents towards their peers with a disability and peer interaction between both groups and the change in it. 

De Boer, A.A., Pijl, S.J., & Minnaert, A.E.M.G. (2012). Students’ Attitudes towards Peers with Disabilities: A review of the literature. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 59(4), 379–392. Jackson, L. D., & Bracken, B. A. (1998). Relationship between students’ social status and global domain-specific self-concepts. Journal of School Psychology, 36, 233–246. Koster, M., Pijl, S. J., Nakken, H., & Houten, E. V. (2010). Social Participation of Students with Special Needs in Regular Primary Education in the Netherlands. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 57(1), 59-75. doi:10.1080/10349120903537905. Lund, R., Nielsen, K. K., Hansen, D. H., Kriegbaum, M., Molbo, D., Due, P., et al. (2009). Exposure to bullying at school and depression in adulthood: A study of Danish men born in 1953. European Journal of Public Health, 19, 111–116. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckn101. United Nations. (2006). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Treaty Series, 2515, 3.