Emotional Peer Support Interventions for Students With SEND: A Systematic Review

Emotional peer support systems have benefits for student-student relationships and allow for children and adolescents' participation in schools. For students with specific educational needs and disabilities (SEND), positive relationships seem to be more difficult to attain and these students are more vulnerable to suffer negative peer experiences such as bullying and social exclusion. Systems in which peers can show helpful behavior are beneficial for schools in order to create a positive, supportive climate. Emotional peer support entails social interaction through emotional or practical help based on what these peers have in common and many times with benefits for both. This systematic review identified interventions of emotional peer support in schools for students with SEND. Twenty-three studies were identified that involved four types of befriending: circle of friends, peer buddying, peer networks, and social lunch clubs. Studies reported mainly positive outcomes for both focus students and peer supporters in terms of increased social interaction and social acceptance, as well as enhanced self-esteem and empathy on the individual level. Further bonding of the students by friendship was also perceived, but more precise data is required to draw further conclusions. Support by the school as an institution, the specific role of the teacher, and family participation are important factors related to the impact of peer support systems. Information on these aspects was scarce, and it is recommended to include variables of this nature in future research. Intervention descriptions revealed students' active participation through suggestions for activities, however their involvement in organizing the systems was limited. More research is needed to learn about the opportunities of emotional peer support to improve student-student relationships including the active involvement of the peers themselves in this support.

Peer Interactions and Sociometric Status of High School Students with Moderate or Severe Disabilities in General Education Classrooms

We examined the social status of six high school students with moderate or severe disabilities in general education cooking classes and compared their social interaction behaviors with those of peers without disabilities. The peers without disabilities who participated were selected from an “average” group based on peer nomination sociometric assessments. Results showed that the social status of the students with disabilities varied. Although no participating students with disabilities were classified as “popular” among their peers, the majority of the participating students with disabilities obtained “average” social status ratings. Results also indicated that students with disabilities were involved in fewer social interactions, interacted with peers without disabilities slightly more often than with adults, and were more often passive participants in interactions. Future studies should examine peer interactions and peer acceptance of students with moderate or severe disabilities in more academic classes, as well as factors that impact their social status and social relationships in inclusive environments.

Curriculum and Instruction in General Education: Implications for Service Delivery and Teacher Preparation

Despite the many reports describing the benefits of inclusive education, there is a lack of information on the instructional strategies and behavior change procedures that general educators use to facilitate skills development. Also, there is not much information on the procedures used to analyze student performance data. Additionally, limited information has been reported on the curricular domains and skills that educators value for instructing students with severe and other disabilities. With this information, better implementation of effective instructional practices in general education may be achieved. To address this issue, survey input from samples of general and special educators across two states was obtained. The findings suggested that general education teachers reported using many, but not all, behavior analytic instructional strategies considered to be best practice. In addition, special educators regarded social interactions and friendships and self-determination skills the most important skills for successful inclusion.

Embedded, constant time delay instruction by peers without disabilities in general education classrooms

This study investigated the effects of a training package (written manual, individual training session, and ongoing verbal feedback) on middle school peer tutors' use of embedded, constant time delay procedures and on the learning outcomes for students with significant cognitive disabilities in general education settings. The study data showed that peer tutors could be trained quickly and efficiently to accurately use constant time delay and embedded instructional techniques in general education settings. The data also showed that peer tutors delivering embedded, constant time delay instruction in general education settings resulted in skill acquisition for students with significant cognitive disabilities. In addition, teacher and peer tutor measures were positive about the social validity of the procedures and outcomes of the peer-delivered embedded instructional package.

Transition to adulthood: supporting young adults to access social, employment, and civic pursuits

"Transition support" is a concept new to the field of secondary transition. This paper describes the development of a model of transition support as derived from the empirical literature (Hughes and Carter. [2000] The Transition Handbook. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes). The components of the Transition Support Model are both empirically based and field-tested among practitioners. The over 500 transition support strategies that compose the model have been used by practitioners in the field to improve educational and postschool outcomes for high school students. These strategies are grouped according to two main goals (i.e., "developing support in the environment" and "increasing students' competence") and corresponding components. Literature supporting the Transition Support Model is described as well as the use of the model in the transition planning process. Suggestions are made for application of transition support in high schools and the need for future research. MRDD Research Reviews 7:84-90, 2001. (c) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.