This study examined the efficacy of a social skills training program on the use of validating comments and negative comments by children with specific language impairment. The present study is an extension of a previous research project. Four children (three female, one male) with specific language impairment, ages 6 to 11, participated in a ten week social skills training program which involved direct instruction of target concepts, peer interactions with classmates, and evaluation of the use of target skills by reviewing videotaped peer interactions. The individual performance of each subject was compared to the age- and gender-matched typical peers with whom they interacted during the weekly game sessions of the intervention program. The intervention program was successful in improving the use of validating comments for three of the four subjects (AA, CS, and JH). The subjects' increased use of validating comments, however, did not appear to significantly affect or change the participants' use of negative comments. It was also found that, while individual performance improved, three of the four participants (AA, MD, and CS) consistently produced fewer validating comments than did their typical peers during the weekly game sessions. Follow-up data for the participants indicated that the three participants (AA, CS, and JH) who showed improvement in their use of validating comments over the course of treatment appeared to maintain their increased skill after the treatment ended. Possible explanations for these results are discussed, and recommendations are made for future social skills training programs.

The aim of this thesis was to describe teenage girls’ experiences and perceptions of participation and influence during learning processes. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the view that children are social actors with their own agency were central to the study. The girls, who were 13 years old when the study began, and 16 when it ended, were interviewed once per semester for three years. Classroom observations formed the basis of the interviews, which provided insight into the learning environment and its working methods. These, in turn, were discussed during the interviews. Nine girls were selected through the IEPs that the school had established for them. They attended regular classes for most of the school day, but received at least one session of special education in smaller groups each week. Their special needs were due to reading and writing difficulties. All of them received special support in English, while seven of the girls also received special support in mathematics. The girls described current events in their life, regarding both school and their spare time, as well as their thoughts about the future, and how efforts to accommodate their special educational needs have affected their schooling. In addition to the girls’ narratives, the IEPs and grades provided the school’s narrative about the girls. The theoretical basis of the thesis comprises cultural-historical ideas of teaching and learning, and the importance of relationships to group-based learning. Descriptive qualitative analyses were based on the teenage girls’ narratives and resulted in five themes; a sixth theme discussed the school’s assessment of the girls through the IEPs and their grades from lower secondary school. Feeling included or not in the group was the overarching theme of all the stories, which involved the girls’ perceptions of how they were treated by the people around them. The results indicate that the girls needed to have instructions repeated to them. There was also a need for continuous encouragement and affirmation in order for them to dare to take on assignments. When it came to collaborative learning together with classmates, the girls preferred to hide their perceived weaknesses, which only made them more dependent on the teacher’s aid. In addition, the girls felt that the teachers were unhappy with the way they handled their school work, and felt overlooked rather than “seen”. In both the stories and the IEPs, concentration difficulties were highlighted as a consistent problem. The analyses show that it is not possible to speak of concentration difficulties without further specification. Since the girls also explained that they were able to maintain concentration, it is necessary to identify which conditions allow pupils to maintain their skills, and when these skills are lost. One finding was that experiences of playing sports created unexpected development opportunities for performing under pressure, even in test situations. According to the girls, visual strengths could compensate for difficulties remembering comprehensive information. The teaching provided opportunities to demonstrate an understanding of facts through visual expression, but creative elements were not included in graded assessments. The study shows that the girls’ leisure-time experiences created opportunities for generalisation regarding learning strategies in school situations.

Notre thèse propose une réflexion sur une stratégie de mise au travail d’élèves à risque de décrochage. Elle s’attache à étudier la mise en place d’un dispositif d’éducation artistique et culturelle en cycles 2 et 3.L’analyse de ce dernier, aboutissant à la création de quatre albums, tente de mettre en exergue les résultats de notre médiation pédagogique. Plus particulièrement, notre étude se propose d’observer, comprendre et accompagner la mise au travail des élèves sous-réalisateurs, au sein d’ateliers d’écriture et d’arts visuels, pour apprendre en agissant et en créant. Nous avons donc envisagé de les mettre au travail grâce à une activité de créativité permettant de les impliquer afin qu’ils retrouvent un intérêt pour les apprentissages fondamentaux. Ainsi, lors d’activités animées par un auteur-illustrateur, il a été question de repérer l’engagement de ces élèves. Notre cadre théorique et méthodologique d’analyse des données du «cours d’expérience» s’appuie sur les traces de leur activité.Les données de cette étude longitudinale ont été recueillies au cours d’observations directes dans une classe faisant l’objet d’un suivi de cohorte d’élèves, du CE1 au CM2. Les hypothèses sont celles de la mise au travail par la créativité définissant le processus émergeant de ce dispositif de création d’albums favorisant l’accès au monde de l’imaginaire. Il apparaît clairement que l’adaptation au milieu a aidé ces élèves à mieux s'intégrer et devenir des acteurs en s’inspirant de leurs champs d’intérêt. Ils ont su mobiliser la référence picturale pour construire leurs histoires et s’inspirer de leur propre vécu pour en faire de la fiction. Cette recherche démontre combien les élèves sous-réalisateurs ont pu être encouragés à se remobiliser sur les savoirs à l’aide de ce processus de créativité. Toutefois, d’autres recherches s’imposent pour approfondir nos propres résultats en ce qui concerne le ré-engagement scolaire et l’intégration des élèves sous réalisateurs, à l’aide de processus de créativité, dans d'autres dispositifs. / In our thesis consideration could be given to a strategy in order to re-engage « early school leaving » pupils. It focuses on a mediation in an experimental class of arts and cultural education, in cycles 2 and 3, developed as a tool for school mobilization. The analysis of this device, leading to the creation of four albums in children's literature, tries to highlight the results of our educational mediation. Specifically, our study sets out to observe, understand and support underachieving pupils (from 7 to 11 years old) in a school within a socio-economically disadvantaged area. We were able to identify, within writing and visual arts workshops, how pupils became engaged in activities, in order to learn by doing and creating.Pupils actively participated in classwork comprising an activity of creativity allowing them to become motivated to learn. So, the study focused on whether this increased engagement was due to taking part in activities with an author-illustrator.Our theoretical and methodological framework for analysis of data from the "process of experience" is based on activity tracks (what is emerging from the pre-reflexive consciousness). The data in thislongitudinal study were collected during direct observations in a classroom (from the 2nd year to the 5th year of primary school).. The study hypothesis argues that increased pupil engagement was as a result of the creative process involved in the creation of albums promoting access to the world of imagination. In addition these pupils became more integrated into the life of the school. They became actors by being inspired by their own fields of interest. They learned how to articulate the required pictorial reference needed for their stories. The pupils were inspired to see their own real-life experience being used as the basis of a work of fiction.This study demonstrates how underachieving pupils could be encouraged to re-engage with school through participation in this creative process. Further research is required to find out whether this creative approach could be adopted in other areas of the curriculum to support the integration of underachieving pupils in school.