From mainstream to special: how do young people with ID experience the transition from mainstream primary to special school

1. From mainstream to special: How do young
people with ID experience the transition from
mainstream primary to special school
Dr. Clara O’Byrne

2. “Being Special”, intellectual disability,
stigma and special schools
• University of Limerick
• Dept. of Children and Youth Affairs
• Three special schools
• 1st year students, parents, teachers
• Mixed methods- Qualitative Focus groups and
Longitudinal x3 time periods (Sept, Jan, May)

3. Idea 1: Special school and special people
or just school, just people?
Idea 2: Do they think they are special
or is it us doing the ‘special’ ing
Idea 3: Start a Phd......

4. • To explore how adolescents with Intellectual
Disability experience being labeled ‘disabled’
• To explore the impact of our talk on adolescents with
Intellectual Disability, How do we do Intellectual
Disability?
• To explore how adolescents view themselves and
how do they think that they are perceived by others?
Research Questions

5. Challenges
• Connecting with schools- ‘gatekeepers’
• Ethical considerations conducting school
based research
• Methodological challenges- Self perception Profile (Harter),
Perception of stigma (Ali et al), Experience of stigma (Cooney et al) and Social
Comparison (Paterson 2012)
• Triangulating the data (parent, teacher, student)
• Time v Ambition...

6. Findings
“Stigma, Self-Perception and social comparison in
young people with Intellectual Disability”
Irish Educational Studies
Degree of ID and Gender (borderline, mild, moderate)
was found to influence experience of stigma and social
comparison with others
Degree of ID is associated with differences in
perception of physical appearance and global self-
worth

7. Findings
“ Changes in domain specific self-perceptions amongst
young people with ID: a Iongitudinal study”
European Journal of Special Needs Education
Gender and degree of ID influence changes in self-
perception across time
 Female perception of writing and spelling competence
decreases across time
 Borderline males had a higher perception of social
acceptance than other groups
 Borderline group had a higher perception of physical
appearance than the other groups
 Global self worth increased significantly from T1 to T2

8. Findings
“Constructions of intellectual disability by parents and
teachers” Disability and Society 2018
•Deficit orientated language is used by parents and
teachers, emphasis on difference from ‘norm’
•Lack of agency attributed to those with ID
•Dilemma-advocate for inclusive practices yet recreate
subtle and pervasive ‘othering’

9. Conclusions
• Demonstrates that gender and level of cognitive capacity
are crucial variables in self perception
• Parents and teachers unwittingly recreate and sustain a
deficit model of disability
• Taken together this demonstrates
– Transition to special school is more complex for the individual
than current practice would suggest
– Constructing a cohort of vulnerable individuals as homogenous
has consequences
– More focus on parent advocacy and teacher training
– More research is needed

10. Thank you
Dr. Clara O’Byrne
NCSE
cobyrne@nbss.ie