engleski

Self-perception of relationships with peers in children with special needs

Bearing in mind the importance of interaction with peers for the development of children and the possibility that the children with special needs feel rejected from their peers, this work deals with self-assessment of relationships with peers in children with special needs and children from general population. We have, for that purpose, formed two samples, a sample of children with lower intellectual functioning -N 67, and sample of children from general population N 191. The participants are pupils of regular primary schools, both sexes, aged 7-10.5 years. The Behavior Rating Profile was applied. The results show that there is a ststistically significant difference between self-assesment of relationships with peers in these two groups of children, in favour of the children without difficulties. Children withspecial needs more often then children without difficulties feel that they are considered not attractive, clumsy or stupid. That seeming contradiction between the loneliness of children with special needs and perception of being accepted by the social enviroment is discussed in detail. The results are compared with the US norms.

self-perception; children with special needs

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