Cooperative learning and social acceptance of children with mild intellectual disability

Abstract

The effects of the participation of non-disabled children in a cooperative learning programme on their social acceptance of classmates with mild intellectual disability was examined. A sample of 24 children with mild intellectual disability in the 9-11-year-old age-range was identified from educational psychologists' case records. All of the children were receiving mainstreaming special education programmes at the time of the study. Twelve of the children had previously attended special education classes, while the remainder had always attended regular classes. Half of the children's regular classes were randomly assigned to either receive an experimental cooperative learning programme or to serve as control classrooms. The non-disabled children in the experimental classes showed significant increases in their social acceptance (sociometric ratings) of the children with mild intellectual disability, both immediately following the programme and 5 weeks later, but no such increases were evident in the children in the control classrooms. This pattern held for both the former special class pupils and the children with mild intellectual disability who had never attended special classes. The results confirm the usefulness of cooperative learning strategies for enhancing the social acceptance of children with mild intellectual disability in mainstreaming special educational programmes, regardless of the nature of their previous special educational provisions.