Examination of the Students’ Activity Preferences Toward Their Peers with Special Needs in Terms of Social Acceptance Levels and Various Variables

Abstract

The present study aims to examine the activity preferences of typically developing students for their peers with special needs in terms of social acceptance levels and various variables. In total, 1098 typically developing students attending public secondary schools, where there are students who continue their education through inclusion, participated in this study. The causal and comparative model was used in this research. The activity preference form developed by Siperstein (1980) and adapted to Turkish by Çiftçi (1997) and the social acceptance scale developed by Arslan (2010) were used as data collection tools. Given the results, it was observed that there is a relationship between the social skill levels, student behaviors, and peer attitudes of the students with typically developing students toward individuals with special needs, and their activity preferences towards students with special needs. Social skills and peer attitudes, which are sub-dimensions of the social acceptance scale, were found to predict activity preferences. Moreover, it was revealed that there was a differentiation between the activity preferences of students with typical development for their peers with special needs and their gender, mother’s education level, father’s education level, class level, and disability status among their relatives (p˂0,05). In schools where inclusive practices are carried out, various activities should be organized for the characteristics of individuals with special needs, so that typically developing students develop positive attitudes towards their peers with special needs and their social acceptance levels should be increased.