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Do You Like Me?
Encourage Social Inclusion for Preteens with Special Needs
By Teri Brown
6. Make friendship development a family priority.
Schedule time for your child to play with other children. In order for children with and without disabilities to develop social relationships, they need to spend unstructured time together outside of school. Given everyone's busy schedules, this is unlikely to happen unless parents play an active role in facilitating such opportunities. Invite some of your child's classmates over to your house after school for recreational activities, take a group of children to a sporting event or go on a hike together.
7. Find ways to assist peers to effectively interact with your child.
Children without disabilities often avoid their peers with disabilities because they are unsure as to how to interact with them. Serve as a role model for such children demonstrating cooperative play, effective communication and teaching children how your child expresses reciprocity.8. Search out inclusive recreation programs.
Although segregated recreation activities for persons with disabilities are appropriate at times, they do little to enhance one's social inclusion. Contact local advocacy and self-advocacy organizations within your area to find out where inclusive programs are available and what organizations run them well.
9. Insist that friendship and social inclusion goals are included in your child's Individualized Education Program (IEP).
Despite the fact that research indicates that a supportive social network of friends and acquaintances is critical for positive developmental outcomes on the part of children with disabilities, many schools consider social inclusion and friendship development to be "extras" or "fluff." As a result, they rarely get around to working on what you as a parent may view as a goal that is critical to your child's development. Including friendship development as a goal in your child's IEP obligates the school to develop and implement supports in this area.