The master's thesis examines the well-being of a pupil with special needs who attends educational program with adapted and additional professional assistance. The main subject of the research refers to discovering effects of additional professional assistance on pupil's well-being. In the theoretical part of the master thesis we explicate a group of pupils with special needs, an educational program of adapted and additional professional assistance, and the concept of inclusion and its implementation in education. In the following, we examine developement of six to eleven year olds and children in adolescence from different theoretical views. We focus on examining psychosocial developement of the child and the importance of peers. We then define the concepts of stigma and its effects on child's learning. The theoretical part of the master's thesis concludes with a discussion about strategies to prevent stigma of pupils with special needs. It also lists some research on additional professional assistance.
The main aim of this master thesis was to determine whether the pupils with special needs are stigmatized due to attending additional professional assistance. We were also interested in the attitude of pupils with special needs to additional professional assistance and how well the pupils with special needs are included in the social environment of their peers.The research was conducted on a sample of 50 pupils with special needs who attend additional professional assistance and on a sample of 63 providers of additional professional assistance from randomly selected primary schools in Slovenia. Data were obtained with two questionnaires, namely a questionnaire for pupils and a questionnaire for providers of additional professional assistance. The obtained data were statistically analysed in IBM SPSS Statistics 22 computer application.
The overall results indicate that additional professional assistance does not attribute to stigmatization of pupils with special needs. This does not mean, however, that a special pedagogue or other provider of additional professional assistance cannot meet a student in whom feelings of difference or stigma will be present. The research results also indicate that pupils with special needs get along well with the provider of additional professional assistance, that they like to attend additional professional assistance and perceive it as effective support service. Also, most pupils with special needs get along well with their classmates and peers, despite the fact that classmates occasionally feel that their adjustments are unfair. Both pupils with special needs and teachers of additional professional assistance reported that additional professional assistance does not attribute to stigmatization of pupils with special needs.
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