"Why not have fun?": peers make sense of an inclusive high school program.
Inclusion without planned fun leaves high-school students with significant disabilities socially sidelined, but short, peer-run games can fix it.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Naraian (2010) asked high-school classmates what they really think about sharing class with a student who has significant disabilities.
The teens said the student was "there but not part of things." They wanted more fun, real talk, and jokes together.
No tests or teaching happened; the researcher just wrote down the peers’ words.
What they found
Peers liked the idea of inclusion, but they said it felt flat. Lunch side-by-side and shared desks did not build friendship.
They wished teachers would set up games, clubs, or paired work that gives everyone a clear, fun job.
How this fits with other research
Kasari et al. (2011) and Bossaert et al. (2012) later counted friendships and loneliness in younger inclusive classes. Their numbers back the teens’ story: students with disabilities still sit on the edge.
Gerhardt et al. (1991) and Rutter et al. (1987) give the fix. They showed that short, planned peer-play sessions or training popular students to start chats quickly pull classmates with severe disabilities into real interaction.
So the high-schoolers’ complaint is not new; it repeats across ages and countries. The older studies also show the solution: structured, fun activities led by trained peers.
Why it matters
If you support a student in general-ed, do not stop at seating charts. Ask the peer group what would be fun, teach two high-status students to run a quick card game or Tik-Tok challenge, and schedule it twice a week. Five minutes of planned joy beats a semester of silent proximity.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Including students with significant disabilities at the high school level has been a subject of increasing research in recent years. This study explores the experiences of a high school student with significant disabilities, Michael, through the narratives of his peers. Participant observation in the building indicated that Michael remained on the periphery of mainstream school experiences as his peers worked with an institutional narrative that was predicated on normative expectations of all students. Using data from interviews, the article investigates how Michael's peers made sense of the process of inclusion that was implemented within this building. It documents the practical constructions of students as they used various elements of the normative discourse within the building to fashion their own interpretations of significant disability. These candid student commentaries retained a persistent focus on the extent to which Michael's program addressed (or failed to address) his fun-loving disposition while remaining critical of the rationale behind the practices it supported. As the data showed, peers' notions of fun for Michael were deeply intertwined with the opportunities for participation made available to him and the critical necessity for social interaction with his peers.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2010 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556-48.1.14