How Teachers Use Peer Interactions to Include Students with Moderate and Severe Disabilities in Elementary General Education Classes

Abstract

This study investigated the way teachers in five elementary classrooms used peer interactions to facilitate the inclusion of a student with moderate or severe disabilities. Four themes describing the strategies used to encourage and shape interactions between students with and without disabilities were identified: new rules about helping, “just another student,” age appropriateness, and “backing off.” The discussion focuses on the complexity of facilitating peer helping roles without encroaching on the social reciprocity found in friendships. The development of inclusion practices based on cooperation and mutual assistance for all students, rather than only for students with identified disabilities, is recommended.