Evaluation of the special school and regular school impact on profoundly mentally handicapped students’ social and family inclusion

Abstract

Profoundly mentally handicapped youths will stay isolated in their future life if they don’t have opportunities to participate in several social aspects. School plays a fundamental role in promoting all students’ social inclusion – with it arises the need to plan access to extra-curricular social activities, diversified contexts, significant relationships and leisure. This is a comparative case study between two groups of profoundly mentally handicapped students, five students in each group, between the ages of 11 and 15 years. One group always attended a regular school, and the other group of students was always in a special institution. The aim was to understand the daily routine after school, the interaction opportunities and the diverse activities and places to which they have access, in order to verify if the educational model from each group can influence the community inclusion and can provide a better support to the families. The data suggest that neither of the models provided an advantage, although benefits were verified for the family life in the group that attended the regular residence school, but not confirming the argument that the special schools facilitate the daily life and offer better services and support to parents. Still there emerges strong data reporting community isolation and passivity of these young ones, due to the longer periods inside the home and limitation in the relationships outside of the close family. Great gaps are also verified in the socialization opportunities and participation in different activities and contexts. Schools or local services don’t have programs that promote the social inclusion or family support.