Urszula Bartnikowska

The paper presents the changes that have taken place in the education of students with special educational needs in the last 25 years after the introduction of the “new” Education Act in 1991. In the article the authors analyze the changes that have taken place in the terminology used to describe these students and the educational offer that has been created for them. The paper shows that this was the time working out a wider range of support for students manifesting a variety of special needs. The opportunities to use a varied education, including the integration / inclusion have been expanded. Quantitative effect of these changes can be seen when one takes into account the number of students with disabilities in different types of schools, with a tendency to increase in mainstream and integrative schools and decrease in special schools (especially at the primary level).

The article presents the problem of teachers’ perception of education of children with emotional and behavioral difficulties / emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). The research was conducted among teachers (N = 90) working in schools with integrative classes (elementary school, middle school and high school). In the study a  iagnostic survey method was used. The aim of the study was to find out how teachers view the education of children with behavioral and emotional difficulties in mainstream and special classes, as well as whether they need support in teaching a child with this type of problems. The findings show a high degree of openness of teachers towards educating a student with EBD in an integrative / mainstream class as well as perceiving the positive effects of their education with typically developing students. The respondents were less supportive towards the idea of placing such students in special classes. Furthermore, they are open to acquiring knowledge and new skills that would contribute to a better education and care of a student with EBD.

Although we can observe a growing interest in the issues of gender in disability studies, there has been little research on femininity in the context of intellectual disability. The author focuses on the origins of femininity presented by female self-advocates with intellectual disabilities. The re-search, whose results were presented in the paper, was conducted in three towns in north-eastern Poland with three focus groups of females who took part in interviews. The participants were 21 women aged of 21-60 with intellectual disabilities. The main research question was: what are the origins femininity from the point of view of women - self-advocates with intellectual disabili-ties? The findings show that... The results, which showed a high level of gender identity of female participants with intellectual disabilities, could be explained by belonging to the groups of self-advocates in which the participants' self-awareness is intentionally developed. The findings show that the interviewees identified two categories of sources of their femininity: biological and social. Two spheres of touching their own femininity were also distinguished: personal and social. Also, facilitators and barriers influencing the women's feminine identity were renowned.

The paper presents some reflections on a paternalistic approach to people with disabilities that may put the functioning of such individuals at risk. Paternalism, as an authoritarian approach of the physician to the patient, emerged in medicine and is most often analyzed with reference to the medical domain. It should be noted, however, that some activities performed by teachers, therapists and parents limit the autonomy of a child or disabled person. Although such actions undoubtedly aim at important rehabilitative outcomes, they overlook/limit possibilities, desires, and sometimes actually well-being of a person with disability. In this article paternalism is analyzed in three aspects: aim, therapy/rehabilitation and parental approach.

Providing high quality education for all children regardless their abilities and difficulties has been treated as a crucial goal in initiatives and legislation for a long time [UNESCO 1994]. Special needs of students may result from their disability, emotional and behavioural problems, experiencing crisis situations, difficulties with adaptation and others. It is plausible that risk of having such needs is higher in children raised in foster families (as compared to birth families). This paper is a research report whose aim was to gain some insight into foster parents’ perception of special educational needs of their children and their subjective assessment of influence of previous experience of children on their academic achievements. In order to achieve this aim three focus group interviews with 21 foster parents of children at school ages were conducted. The findings show that a number of parents identify special educational needs resulting from e.g. emotional and behavioural difficulties and disabilities in their children. According to parents,  children’s academic achievements as well as emotional well-being is influenced by their (often negative) previous and present experiences. Implications for further research and practice are discussed.