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- FRIEND-SHIP Intervention Program - the HandbookPublication . Aroni, K.; Toulia, A.; Alves, Sílvia; Hassani, S.; Heidrich, F.; Franzen, K.; Görel, G.; Löper, M. F.; Aguiar, T.; Silveira-Maia, Mónica; Sanches-Ferreira, Manuela; Hellmich, F.; Schwab, S.; Avramidis, E.This handbook is the product of collaboration within the “FRIEND-SHIP—Improving Students’ Social Participation in Primary and Secondary Schools Across Europe” Project, funded by the European Commission—Erasmus+ Programme, Project No.: 2019-1-AT01-KA201-05 1226. One of the main outputs of this Project consisted of the development of the FRIEND-SHIP Program, a school-based intervention aimed at improving social participation of all students between 8 and 11 years of age. The FRIEND-SHIP Program is intended to be implemented by teachers and consists of 12 sessions, each with the duration of 45–60 minutes, implemented twice a week over six weeks. The activities that comprise this program are essentially experiential. Students are invited to take an active and involved role by participating in group activities, role-playing, social stories, arts, and physical activities. The main purpose of this handbook is to support teachers in implementing the FRIEND-SHIP program with their classes. This handbook is divided in three parts: • CHAPTERS 1, 2 and 3 cover background information about social participation and inclusion, as well as the description of the target audience of this handbook and the digital tool for evaluating the FRIEND-SHIP Program effects. • CHAPTER 4 covers the FRIEND-SHIP Intervention Program, including guiding principles, aims, and detailed descriptions of sessions. • CHAPTER 5 covers the information gathered with the implementation of the FRIEND-SHIP Intervention Program throughout the Project life.
- Participation in Leisure Activities as an Indicator of Inclusion: A Comparison between Children with and without Disabilities in PortugalPublication . Silveira-Maia, Mónica; Sanches-Ferreira, Manuela; Alves, Sílvia; Gomes, Manuela; Santos, Bárbara; Lopes-dos-Santos, PedroParticipation is recognised as an important indicator of school inclusion and educational success of children with and without disabilities and one of the fundamental human rights. In particular, the participation in leisure activities plays a vital role in children’s life and needs to be given a higher attention. The aim of the present exploratory study was to reflect on the inclusion of children with disabilities in Portuguese schools, by portraying and comparing their participation profiles in leisure activities to those of typically developing peers. The participation patterns in leisure activities of 61 children with disabilities and 114 children without disabilities were assessed. Results indicate that the pattern of participation of children with and without disabilities differs whether they are school or community-based activities. Regarding school-based activities, findings reveal that children with disabilities participate more frequently in these activities, but in solitary and constrained spaces at school compared to children without disabilities. For community contexts, our findings indicate that children with disabilities participate in less diverse activities than children without disabilities. In addition, the range of activities is correlated to their level of independence. This exploratory study contributes to an understanding of the pattern of participation of children with and without disabilities
- Conditions for Implementing the ICF-CY in Education: The Experience in PortugalPublication . Sanches-Ferreira, Manuela; Silveira-Maia, Mónica; Alves, Sílvia; Simeonsson, Rune J.Reflecting international trends for implementing inclusive education, Portugal enacted a special education law (Law No. 3/2008) in 2008, defining substantial changes in educational practice. One of the most important changes consisted in determining that eligibility for special education services be based on the functioning profile of students documented with the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, version for children and youth [ICF-CY, WHO (World Health Organization), 2007]. The study described in this manuscript belongs to a broader project and consisted of the administration of a survey to a nationally representative sample of 551 professionals, to examine factors they considered as most influential to the perceived ease in using the ICF-CY, as well as identifying the extent to which the professional groups and the enrollment on training relates to the opinion about the use of the ICF. For sample recruitment, 414 clusters of schools were randomly selected, stratified according to the distribution of schools in the different Regional Directorates of Education in Portugal. The survey consisted of demographic questions and 49 scaled items, assessed on a 4-point Likert scale in which respondents rated: (i) the perceived ease on the ICF-CY usage; (ii) their level of knowledge on conceptual and procedural aspects inherent to the Law implementation, as well as, on regard to performed roles defined; (iii) the extent to which their schools presented conditions for collaboration; and (iv) the importance of contextual variables as valued conditions for using the ICF-CY. Results showed that the establishment of mechanisms for collaboration and interdisciplinarity were central conditions to meet the comprehensiveness and rigor defining an ICF-CY-based assessment. Likewise, consideration of diverse backgrounds and needs of professional groups in terms of knowledge needs to be a central requirement for implementing an ICF-CY informed approach. An important implication for training programs is to have an expanded focus on demonstrations on how the ICF-CY can be used to support the implementation of socio-ecological and inclusive perspectives.
- Building inclusive preschool classrooms: How desirable and feasible is a set of strategies that facilitate teacher-child relationships?Publication . Sanches-Ferreira, Manuela; Gonçalves, Joana L.; Araújo, Sara Barros; Alves, Sílvia; Barros, SílviaPositive teacher-child relationships promote children’s engagement, as children feel more secure to explore and participate in free or oriented activities. For children with disabilities, a context wherein they can receive the support to maintain a positive engagement in different activities is even more relevant. A scarcity of research exists on how to promote ECEC quality, namely, how to facilitate teacher-child interactions in inclusive environments. This study aims to evaluate preschool teachers’ opinions about the desirability and feasibility of a set of empirically validated strategies to improve teacher-child interactions in ECEC classrooms, for the group and children with disabilities. The participants were 89 Portuguese preschool teachers. Based on a non-systematic literature review, a questionnaire composed of 22 strategies to facilitate teacher-child interactions (in 4 dimensions: emotionally responsive interactions, classroom management, attend to children’s perspectives, and scaffolding learning) was developed. Along with the questionnaire, a set of socio-demographic variables was also collected. ECEC teachers scored significantly higher in the desirability subscale compared with the feasibility subscale in all dimensions and at both the child and the group level. This gap between teachers’ perceived desirability and feasibility provides important insights regarding the dimensions which are important to reinforce in ECEC teachers’ education and professional development. The mean difference between the desirability and feasibility subscales registered a higher effect size at the child’s level than at the group’s level, confirming that the inclusion of children with disabilities in preschool settings remains a challenge. Moreover, the effect size was small to moderate in the Emotionally Responsive Interactions dimension for both child and group levels. These results are aligned with previous studies stating that among different self-identified dimensions for improvement, emotional support is the less evoked by ECEC teachers. Across all dimensions, the main reason teachers give for difficulty in feasibility, both at the group and child’s level, is lack of knowledge. Overall, understanding the reasons teachers attribute to the difference between the strategies’ desirability and feasibility informs the assessment of teacher education needs and might be operationalized as a new observation instrument.