Social Participation and Quality of Best Friendship of Students With Moderate Learning Difficulties in Early Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study

Recent sociometric research has described students with special educational needs (SEN) as less accepted and experiencing more social difficulties than their classmates without SEN. This study addresses the social participation of students with moderate learning difficulties (MLD) in regular schools while also focusing on the quality of their best friendship. In this longitudinal study, 313 secondary students, including 46 with MLD, were first examined while at Grade 7 (T1) and 2 years later at Grade 9 (T2). In line with previous studies, the students with MLD held reduced peer acceptance, had fewer friendships, and engaged less often in social interactions with peers than their typically developing classmates on both administrations. However, students with MLD held positive perceptions of social self-concept and friendship quality, with the two measures being positively associated. At T2, students with MLD reported poorer socio-emotional skills, which were positively correlated with their perceptions of both social self-concept and friendship quality. The paper concludes by outlining the importance of supporting students’ socio-emotional development through implementing relevant school-based interventions. © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Using sociometric techniques to assess the social impacts of inclusion: Some methodological considerations

In recent years, sociometric techniques have been increasingly used to assess friendship development in children with special educational needs integrated in regular educational settings. In this paper, the findings produced by different techniques are contrasted with a view to examining whether the variable findings reported can be attributed to the technique employed. The analysis revealed that peer nominations have been used to determine pupils' social status and have overwhelmingly produced negative results. Peer ratings have been used to ascertain the level of acceptance pupils enjoy within their class network and have also produced negative results. Social Cognitive Mapping has been used to obtain information about the nature of social networks and the relations among peers and has produced mixed to positive results. As such, Social Cognitive Mapping could be viewed as a more robust approach that addresses more thoroughly the complexities of young children's social relations than the other two classic sociometric techniques. The paper concludes with highlighting methodological challenges surrounding the application of sociometric techniques and advocates their embedding within innovative multi-method research designs. © 2016 Elsevier Lt