Emotional and social needs of integrated disabled students in secondary school environment

Abstract

The paper deals with emotional and social needs of integrated disabled pupils in the secondary school environment. The authors focused on the perception of emotional and social needs of pupils with physical disabilities who were individually integrated into a standard secondary school five years ago at the latest. The aim of the research was to determine how graduates with physical disabilities reflect on their emotional and social needs and their fulfillment in the secondary school environment. Its purpose was also to reveal how the participants describe their position within the school class. With regard to the research objectives, the authors decided for a qualitative research strategy using semi-structured interviews and an interpretative phenomenological analysis. The results showed that the emotions of the informants are mainly determined by their insufficiently fulfilled social needs. The graduates intensely experienced distrust of their classmates, but also a certain initial reluctance of the teachers to accept their specific needs. This stemmed from the lack of interpersonal communication and cooperation and the lack of shared experiences in the school environment. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.