A comparison of social skills in Turkish children with visual impairments,children with intellectual impairments and typically developing children |
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| Authors: | Ufuk Ozkubat |
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| Institution: | Special Education Department, Gazi University, Ankara 06500, Turkey |
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| Abstract: | The purpose of this study was to compare the social skills of five groups of children: children with visual impairments attending inclusive education schools, children with visual impairments attending schools for the blind, children with intellectual impairments attending inclusive education schools, children with intellectual impairments attending segregated special education schools, and typically developing children. A hundred and sixty-nine children aged from 7 to 12 participated in the study. The children's social skills were rated by their teachers on the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) – Turkish Form. The results suggested significant group differences between children attending inclusive education schools and children attending special education schools. Analysis of the findings indicated that children with visual impairments and children with intellectual impairments had poorer social skills than typically developing children; however children with visual impairments and children with intellectual impairments attending inclusive education schools had higher social skills than children attending segregated special education schools. The findings of the study were discussed and suggestions for future research were provided. |
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| Keywords: | social skills inclusive education visual impairments intellectual impairments |
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