Ed-D 420

Inclusion of Exceptional Learners

The Construct of Friendship The most human relationship Often viewed as deep and surface structures

Deep – the essence of friendship ~ mutuality and reciprocity Rewarding and pleasurable

Surface – social exchanges (reciprocal, companionable) fraught with difficulty ~ problems and anxieties

Friendships seems harder for those with exceptionalities The reasoning stems from the idea that as we move thru

developmental stages having peers at the same level is worthwhile (parallel play all the way to female friendships in middle school and supportive problem solving and self-defining activities in adolescence)

The Construct of Friendship Friends are most

typically of the same age and preoccupied with the same developmental issues

Exceptional adolescence are potentially cognitively less mature, may have few common problems

Yet, close friendships are important to developing social competence

The Construct of Friendship There is also a cultures difference

Females tend to focus more on building interpersonal relationships ~ more interactions in an intimate and supportive nature

There is some issue with this focusing too much on co-rumination and dwelling on negative effects (linked to depression)

Males are more agentic – we do stuff together with some external goal (I no longer have any friends) ~ achievement recognition and power (this too has some negative consequences)

The Construct of Friendship Classroom structure ~ to help facilitate?

Might be important to think about what developmental needs these social relationships might be designed to build

Also think about the gender involved and how this might be be facilitated

Case study of a male with Down’s who was heavily enrolled by family into sports (operation track shoes) that could initiate and sustain conversations with same aged peers and adults in his neighbourhood

A big concern for me is the idea of helping relations in a classroom but not of friendship ~ exclusion

Case Studies This will be jigsawed – so groups of two where

one is A and one is B A goes to read case 16 B goes to read case 22

Identify the facts of the case briefly What are the major dilemmas in the case

Back to small groups Quick overview of each case Does this lead you to question or recognize any

assumptions you might be making about students, teachers, classrooms?

Test These were marked by my TA and I read thru

them ~ not with the level of detail that the TA did.

So... Count and assure the sums are correct (24 not

26!!!) She did this on a subtraction basis – think about

this with students and your own preference Questions and concerns are most welcome and I

encourage them.