Inclusive education begins with the idea of students with and without disabilities having an equal membership for academic and various social activities together in the same school building. The concept of inclusive education has been manifested to hi...
Inclusive education begins with the idea of students with and without disabilities having an equal membership for academic and various social activities together in the same school building. The concept of inclusive education has been manifested to high quality education for all students from dichotomous thoughts of integration of students without disabilities and students with disabilities. Thus, research on the method to utilize opportunities for strengthening interdependence and collaboration of group members out of the personal various difference including students with disabilities has an important meaning for the practice of inclusive education.
In the index for successful practice of inclusive education, positive interaction and relationship between friends has been turned out to be an important factor for social inclusion. Most inclusive programs for positive interaction between students with disabilities and without disabilities are made up of play activities. An interaction through play has been reported to be effective for facilitating inclusive education, but there are difficulties for students with and without disabilities to play as equal play partners. During elementary school period, a play partner has an important meaning for friend-relation, however, students with and without disabilities have not been recognized to be friends who can play together for free time except an interaction under the condition of organized program.
Therefore, this research has a purpose to show the effects of integration and play adaptation of play program on emotional competence and playfulness of elementary students with and without disabilities. The play program is based on play activities, and includes play adaptation in which students initiatively modify their play methods to promote fun and participation of members. This study intended to verify the fact that the inclusion of students with and without disabilities in play program and play adaptation which can support to reduce difficulties in the situation of inclusive play can contribute the improvement of emotional competence and playfulness.
The subjects for this study were 20 students with mild or moderate mental retardation who were in special classes of public elementary schools and their peers, 184 students without disabilities. The groups were divided into four according to the condition of inclusion and play adaptation. And one group of play program was composed of 6 students from 34 different schools. Each inclusive play group consisted of one student with disabilities and five students without disabilities, and non-inclusive play group, six students without disabilities.
The experiments were done twice a week at lunch time of 25 minutes for 12 weeks in the special classes under the instruction of special teachers. In addition to the regular program, the experimental groups of play adaptation had one additional time for modifying and evaluating the rules to improve the ‘fun’and ‘participation’of the play.
As for the measurement of emotional competence and playfulness, ‘Emotional Intelligence Test(EIT) (for third to sixth grades)’by The Education Research Institute, Seoul National University(1997), was used to measure the emotional competence of the students without disabilities. To measure the emotional competence of the students with disabilities, ‘Childrens Emotional Intelligence Scale’by Kim Kyung-Hoe(1998) was used. for measuring playfulness, ‘Childrens Playfulness Scale(CPS)’by Barnett(1990) was translated into Korean and used. I let the students without disabilities give a kind of self-report with the scale, and the special teachers helped the students with disabilities with it. The result was analyzed by T-test, one-way ANOVA and two-way ANOVA according to the assignment of the research.
The results through this study are below:
1. There is a statistically meaningful difference in emotional competence between the students without disabilities according to whether they were in the inclusive group or not. That is, the emotional competence of students without disabilities in the inclusive group has been improved in the emotional competence sum total and the emotional utility, sub-area of the emotional competence, compared to that of students in the non-inclusive group.
2. There is a statistically meaningful difference in playfulness between the students without disabilities according to whether they were in the inclusive group or not. That is, the playfulness of students without disabilities in the non-inclusive group has been improved in the playfulness sum total and the physical spontaneity, sub-area of the playfulness, compared to that of the students in the inclusive group.
3. There isnt any statistically meaningful difference in emotional competence of the students without disabilities according to whether there was an application of the play adaptation or not.
4. There is a statistically meaningful difference in playfulness between the students without disabilities according to whether there was an application of the play adaptation or not. That is, the playfulness of the students without disabilities in the experimental group of the play adaptation has been improved in the playfulness total sum and all sub-area, compared to that of the students without disabilities in the non-experimental group.
5. There is a statistically meaningful difference in emotional competence of students with disabilities according to whether there was an application of the play adaptation or not. In the area of ‘the Appraisal and Expression of Emotion’and ‘the Relation between Peers’, the emotional competence of the students with disabilities in the experimental group of the play adaptation has been more improved, compared to that of the students with disabilities in the non-experimental group.
6. There is a statistically meaningful difference in playfulness of the students with disabilities according to whether there was an application of the play adaptation or not. In the area of ‘the Manifest Joy’, the sub-area of playfulness, the playfulness of students with disabilities in the experimental group of the play adaptation has been more improved compared to that of the students with disabilities in the non-experimental group.
Consequently, inclusion and play adaptation are influential factors to the emotional competence and the playfulness. The inclusive play of the students with and without disabilities can be applied as an opportunity to develop the childs emotional competences. And through the play adaptation, the children with different competences can participate in the play as an equal member of the group.