ATTITUDES OF PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES TOWARDS INCLUSION

The present research focused on investigating the attitudes of parents of children with disabilities regarding their children’s educational inclusion in general education. Also, the effect of certain demographic characteristics of the participants on their attitudes was investigated. 125 parents of children with disabilities attending primary education participated in this research, residing in Western Greece. The collection of research data was carried out using the questionnaire "Attitude Toward Inclusion/Mainstreaming Scale" (Leyser & Kirk, 2004-translated by Kokaridas et al., 2008). The statistical analysis of the data was done using the statistical package SPSS, version 26.0. A statistically significant relationship emerged between the variables parents’ attitudes, gender and parents' educational level. From the results of the research, emerged that the participants showed above-average positive attitudes regarding inclusion and that the mothers of children with disabilities had more positive attitudes towards inclusion, compared to the fathers. It also emerged that participants with a higher educational level were more positive towards the inclusion of their children with disabilities. The findings of this research are expected to contribute to the effective implementation and achievement of the concept of inclusive education.  Article visualizations

CASE STUDY: A PSYCHOEDUCATIONAL INTERVENTION PROGRAM IN CHILDREN WITH DEAFBLINDNESS

The aim of the research is to create an intervention program that will combine the use of alternative and adapted methods of information collection to establish the communicative and cognitive profile of a deaf-blind student. The student who participated in this particular case study is a 11 years old girl who attends a special school in Greece. The results of the research were encouraging and highlighted the importance of creating similar programs in Greece for deaf-blind students. More specifically, they showed that the student can now orient herself spatially and temporally in relation to her daily educational program at school and, moreover, she had now built a better image of the body parts and their function.  Article visualizations

SCHOOL BULLYING IN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, PREVENTION AND COPING STRATEGIES

School bullying is a significant problem affecting high school students. This article provides an overview of the causes and consequences of bullying, as well as prevention and coping strategies. The literature review includes a discussion of different types of bullying (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, & Johnson, 2015), individual, family, peer, and school-related factors that contribute to bullying (Espelage & Swearer, 2010; Olweus, 2013), and the physical and psychological harm that results from bullying (Bradshaw et al., 2015). The article concludes with a discussion of different interventions to prevent and cope with bullying, including whole-school approaches, targeted interventions, and peer support programs (Bradshaw et al., 2015; Espelage & Swearer, 2010).  Article visualizations

SELF-EFFICACY OF SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS IN GREECE

The present study focused on investigating the self-efficacy of special education teachers of primary and secondary education in Greece. In addition, the effect of certain demographic factors (gender, age, marital status, years of service, specialization, and working grade) on teachers' self-efficacy was investigated. The sample of the study was 106 special education teachers of primary and secondary education. For the evaluation of self-efficacy, the Perceived Self-efficacy subscale was selected from the Self-efficacy, Perceived School Collective Efficacy, Job Satisfaction (Carpara, Barbaranelli, Steca, & Maloneet, 2003). The statistical package SPSS, version 21.0 was used for statistical analysis of the data. Statistical assumptions were tested for a default level of statistical significance α = .05. Analysis of the data revealed that the level of self-efficacy of special education teachers was high. A statistically significant relation was found between age and self-efficacy.   Article visualizations

VIEWS OF PARENTS WITH TYPICAL EDUCATION CHILDREN ABOUT INCLUSION OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM IN GENERAL SCHOOL

In recent decades, the debate over the successful implementation of accession policy has been growing. Teachers and parents are called upon to face a new reality. This paper discusses the views of parents with children in typical education regarding the inclusion of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the general school. Individual goals are to investigate parents' knowledge of ASD and factors that may affect parents' perceptions of inclusion. The research sample consists of 159 parents with children of typical education attending primary education (primary schools). Data were collected using a questionnaire with 10 questions on a Likert scale. The results showed that parents as a whole are positive about inclusion, but their views vary depending on some demographic features such as age, marital status, economic level and educational level.  Article visualizations

DEVELOPMENTAL COORDINATION DISORDER AND SOCIAL COMPETENCE IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

This study investigated Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) and social competence—such as cooperation, interaction, and independence—in young children, along with the relationship between these factors. The sample included 150 preschool children (66 boys and 84 girls) aged between 50 and 70 months. No significant differences were found in motor difficulties based on gender or age. Most children exhibited adequate social skills in areas like cooperation, interaction, and independence, with only a few showing deficits. A relationship was observed between performance on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC) Test and social skills, although it was not statistically significant. The findings were consistent with some previous studies but contradicted others, indicating the need for further research due to the study's small sample size.  Article visualizations

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL BEHAVIOR OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM: THE INFLUENCE OF PSYCHOMOTOR CLUMSINESS

Children with autism manifest detection first, then parallel behavior, cooperation, autistic behavior, and communicate less with other children. Higher autism functioning was associated with probing, parallel, cooperative and partnering behavior and lower with autistic behavior. Children had more difficulty in tests where the children were stationary and the environment was changing, followed by tests where the children were moving, and better performance was observed in tests where the children were stationary, and the environment was stable. Psychomotor clumsiness produced negative effects on socio-emotional behavior, while physical activity within school and group play produced positive effects. Autism functionality emerged as a moderator in the relationship between psychomotor clumsiness and socioemotional behavior.  Article visualizations

The rhythmic ability of the kindergarten's child and its relation to the reading ability in the first grades of primary school

Reading is a complex cognitive process involving the processing of the information from which writing is composed, which relates to the transfer of acode of written symbols, in this case graphemes, to a code of sounds, that is, phonemes. Rhythmic ability is defined as the ability to perform a sequence of regular, coarse, and repetitive movements with both spatial and temporal accuracy. The purpose of the present study is to study the rhythmic ability of preschool children, to examine its relation with the children’s age and gender,and to investigate whether rhythmic ability in kindergarten children is related: a) to phonological awareness; and b) to short-term phonological memory; and c) whether rhythmic ability is related to later reading difficulties, in the second grade of primary school. The research was conducted in two phases. The first phase involved 244 children, aged 5.2 to 6.4 years, who attended public kindergartens and did not have any neurological, sensory or motor problems,were not diagnosed with learning difficulties, diffuse developmental disorders, autism or attention disorders. The children were evaluated as tophonological awareness, short-term phonological memory, and rhythmic ability. In the second phase, from the initial sample of children, we reasses sedduring their second grade as to reading and rhythmic ability the 25 children who had scored high marks in the rhythmic test while in kindergarten and the 26 children who had performed poorly in rhythmic ability. The data collection tools used in the kindergarten sample were Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices, the Kindergarten and First and Second Grade Reading Difficulty Detection and Investigation Tool, and the High/Scope Rhythmic Competence Analysis Test. For assessing the reading ability of the primary school sample, we used the Reading Ability Detection Test and for the assessment of rhythmic capacity we used again the rhythm test that had been used in the kindergarten. Statistical analysis of the data was performed with the help of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences at the level of descriptive and inferential statistics. The study results showed that the children’s gender andage appear to be related to rhythmic ability. In addition, both phonological awareness and short-term (working) phonological memory in preschool, which are a prerequisite for learning to read later, affect rhythmic ability, - 6 -while reading capacity and reading difficulties in the second grade of primary school seem to be predicted by the level of development of the children’s rhythm/rhythmic ability in kindergarten.Η ανάγνωση συνιστά μία πολύπλοκη γνωστική διαδικασία επεξεργασίας των πληροφοριών από τις οποίες συντίθεται ο γραπτός λόγος, η οποία σχετίζεται με τη μεταφορά ενός κώδικα γραπτών συμβόλων, εν προκειμένω των γραφημάτων, σε έναν κώδικα ήχων, δηλαδή τα φωνήματα. Η ρυθμική ικανότητα ορίζεται ως η ικανότητα απόδοσης με χωροχρονική ακρίβεια μίας αλληλουχίας κανονικών, αδρών και επαναλαμβανόμενων κινήσεων. Σκοπός της παρούσας έρευνας είναι να μελετηθεί η ρυθμική ικανότητα των παιδιών προσχολικής ηλικίας, να εξεταστεί η σχέση της σε συνάρτηση με την ηλικία και το φύλο των παιδιών και να διερευνηθεί αν η ρυθμική ικανότητα στα παιδιά του νηπιαγωγείου σχετίζεται α) με την φωνολογική επίγνωση και β) με την βραχύχρονη μνήμη φωνολογικών πληροφοριών. Επιπλέον, η παρούσα έρευνα αποσκοπεί να εξετάσει αν η ρυθμική ικανότητα κατά την προσχολική ηλικία δύναται να αποτελέσει προβλεπτικό παράγοντα για την εμφάνιση ενδεχόμενων αναγνωστικών δυσκολιών κατά τη φοίτηση στη Δευτέρα (Β’) τάξη του δημοτικού σχολείου. Η έρευνα διεξήχθη σε δύο φάσεις. Στην πρώτη φάση συμμετείχαν 244 παιδιά, ηλικίας 5,2 έως 6,4 ετών, τα οποία φοιτούσαν σε δημόσια νηπιαγωγεία και δεν αντιμετώπιζαν κάποιο νευρολογικό, αισθητηριακό ή κινητικό πρόβλημα και δεν είχαν διαγνωστεί για μαθησιακές δυσκολίες, διάχυτες αναπτυξιακές διαταραχές ή διαταραχές προσοχής. Τα παιδιά αξιολογήθηκαν ως προς την φωνολογική επίγνωση, την βραχύχρονη μνήμη φωνολογικών πληροφοριών και τη ρυθμική ικανότητα. Στη δεύτερη φάση της έρευνας, από το αρχικό δείγμα των παιδιών, επαναξιολογήθηκαν κατά την φοίτησή τους στη Δευτέρα (Β’) δημοτικού ως προς την αναγνωστική ικανότητα και τη ρυθμική ικανότητα 25 παιδιά που σημείωσαν την πιο υψηλή βαθμολογία στο τεστ ρυθμικής ικανότητας κατά την αξιολόγησή τους όταν φοιτούσαν στο νηπιαγωγείο και 26 παιδιά που σημείωσαν την πιο χαμηλή βαθμολογία, αντίστοιχα. Ως μέσα συλλογής των δεδομένων αξιοποιήθηκαν στο δείγμα του νηπιαγωγείου οι Έγχρωμες Προοδευτικές Μήτρες του Raven, το Εργαλείο Ανίχνευσης και Διερεύνησης των Αναγνωστικών Δυσκολιών στο νηπιαγωγείο και Α’-Β’ Δημοτικού και το τεστ High/Scope Rhythmic Competence Αnalysis Τest. Στο δείγμα των παιδιών του δημοτικού για την αξιολόγηση της αναγνωστικής ικανότητας - 4 -χρησιμοποιήθηκε το Τεστ Ανίχνευσης της Αναγνωστικής Ικανότητας και για την αξιολόγηση της ρυθμικής ικανότητας αξιοποιήθηκε εκ νέου το τεστ ρυθμού που είχε χρησιμοποιηθεί και στο νηπιαγωγείο. Η στατιστική ανάλυση των δεδομένων πραγματοποιήθηκε με τη συνδρομή του στατιστικού πακέτου Statistical Package for Social Sciences σε επίπεδο περιγραφικής και επαγωγικής στατιστικής. Τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνας κατέδειξαν ότι το φύλο, αν και σε περιορισμένη κλίμακα, και η ηλικία των παιδιών φαίνεται να σχετίζονται με τη ρυθμική ικανότητα. Επιπλέον, τόσο η φωνολογική επίγνωση όσο και η βραχύχρονη (εργαζόμενη) μνήμη φωνολογικών πληροφοριών κατά την προσχολική ηλικία, οι οποίες αποτελούν προϋπόθεση για τη μετέπειτα εκμάθηση της ανάγνωσης, επηρεάζουν την ρυθμική ικανότητα. Επιπλέον, το επίπεδο της αναγνωστικής ικανότητας και οι ενδεχόμενες αναγνωστικές δυσκολίες στη Δευτέρα (Β΄) τάξη δημοτικού φαίνεται να μπορούν να προβλεφθούν από το επίπεδο ανάπτυξης του ρυθμού/ρυθμικής ικανότητας των παιδιών στο νηπιαγωγείο

LEARNING PATHS AND LEARNING STYLES IN DYSLEXIA: POSSIBILITES AND EFFECTIVENESS - CASE STUDY OF TWO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS AGED 7 YEARS OLD

The difficulty in reading and writing, spelling mistakes and poor speech are considered as the main elements that characterize students with dyslexia. If one thinks that most of the things in a class are based on writing and reading, then the importance of such a learning difficulty is that it is recognized as soon as possible and with appropriate strategies that people with dyslexia can be helped in their progress. The main aim of the current study was to stress the contribution of early diagnosis of dyslexia to the creation of effective learning environments based on individual learning difficulties, learning styles, and learning paths. To this end, were studied different difficulties in the domains of memory, phonology, grammar, and syntax differentiated the learning styles as well as the strategies of each case, resulting to the implementation of multisensory individualized teaching approaches. Conclusively, early diagnosis of dyslexia as well as multisensory intervention approaches were considered as the most effective factors in the improvement of the two cases learning achievement

The Effects of Physical Activity in Children and Adolescents with Developmental Coordination Disorder

The purpose of this literature review was to detect and study the effectiveness of therapeutic intervention programs, such as physical activities and sports, on children and adolescents with Developmental Motor Coordination Disorder (DCD) to improve their motor skills. The sample for this study consisted of 48 (100%) papers, specifically, 40 (83.5%) articles, 3 (6.2%) doctoral theses, 2 (4.1%) master’s theses and 3 (6.2%) papers from conference proceedings from the year 2014 to 2022. To search the sample, the following terms were used: DCD or dyspraxia, physical activity programs, intervention, physical intervention, physical education, etc. The results for the existence of statistically significant results and internal validity of intervention programs using physical activities and sports in children and adolescents with DCD showed that a large number of intervention programs improved the children’s motor skills as well as their daily functionality. In contrast, other interventions failed to improve dynamic and static balance. The negative result could be due either to the short duration of the interventions or to the improper suboptimal design—organization of the methodology of these programs—such as the heterogeneous intervention samples and the use of inappropriate and reliable assessment tools