Page 174 - RUICHSS 2023 Proceeding

University of Ruhuna ISSN: 2706-0063
Matara, Sri Lanka

language pathologist (44.4%), special education professionals (42.6%),

psychologists (35.2%) and social pedagogue (7.4%).

The criteria for selecting a sample of students with disabilities involve having

a diagnosed disability, falling within the age range of 7 and 13, attending

classes in an inclusive class in a mainstream school in the specified counties,
obtaining consent from both their parents the participating teacher. The criteria

for selecting a sample of students without disabilities involve being in the
same age and gender group as students with disabilities, attending classes

together (where they are evaluated by the same teacher for this research), and
obtaining parental consent for their assessment made by the teacher.

Teachers assessed social inclusion, emotional well-being, and academic self-

concept of their first to eighth-grade students (N=106) who met the stated
criteria for participation in the research. The sample of students includes

female (N=47) and male (N=56) students. Mean age of students is 11.2 years,
with students aged 10 and under (N=45), and students aged 11 and over

(N=60). The sample of students is divided into two subsamples equalised by

age, gender and class: students with disabilities (N=53) and students without
disabilities (N=53). The sample of students with disabilities consists of

students with various mild disabilities: learning disabilities (N=22), speech-
language disorders (N=10), intellectual disability (N=8), attention

deficit/hyperactive disorder (N=7), autistic spectrum disorder (N=5), motor

disorders (N=5), visual impairment (N=4), hearing impairment (N=1).
Regarding the educational programme, 11 students (20.76%) participated in

the regular programme with individualised procedures, 31 students (58.5%)
115