Social and emotional learning (SEL) was not a component of Erin Crosby's academic experience, according to her memory. By the time SEL programming became commonplace in public school K–12 classrooms across the nation, Crosby—who is now a special education teacher at an elementary school in Massachusetts—was a college student.
Today, the majority of school districts choose and implement particular SEL activities, lessons, or formal curricula to help students control their emotions and acquire crucial abilities for decision-making, forming relationships, and developing self-awareness, among other objectives. Every child can benefit from SEL, according to Crosby, but she also contributes an often-overlooked perspective to her lessons: She has observed how SEL lessons frequently exclude or marginalise pupils who have learning impairments.
SEL worksheets, films, and activities may not have been created with accessibility in mind in the first place, making it difficult or impossible for children with disabilities to participate—despite the fact that an estimated one-quarter of students in the U.S. have a disability of some kind. These materials might not depict students with disabilities participating in commonplace activities including conflicts, social interactions, and instruction. Instructors can also believe that all students should be able to show the same emotional control.
For instance, a youngster with a sensory, intellectual, or psychological impairment that impairs impulse control may fidget to focus and maintain attention throughout a protracted academic lecture. But, a teacher with implicit preconceptions about what focused behaviour should entail can grow irritated by the child's fidgeting, mistake the child for being disruptive, and then discipline them.
Every child is unique, says Crosby, a former member of the Young Adult Leadership Council for the National Center for Learning Disorders. There are many alternative strategies, and there will be loads of trial and error.
What we know about SEL and students with disabilities in the classroom
Crosby's worries are shared by many others. The Yale Child Study Center's assistant professor, Dr. Christina Cipriano, is aware that SEL can help children develop emotionally. Yet, she has been concerned to learn that research on SEL rarely take students with impairments into account.
In 2021, Cipriano oversaw an evaluation of 242 studies of SEL programmes in elementary schools and discovered that just 25% of them made any mention of disability. Only a small percentage of research examined whether SEL was effective by include students with impairments. Only one of them took into account both race and handicap. According to prior studies, black pupils are more likely to be labelled as having a handicap and to experience harsh discipline at school. It is crucial to determine whether Black kids with disabilities are effectively given access to the advantages of SEL programmes, according to Cipriano, who also serves as the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence's director of research.
Cipriano and her co-authors examined more than 400 SEL research that were carried out all around the world in a recent preprint of a paper that will appear in Child Development. Despite the fact that only 16 percent of those publications included kids with disabilities, none of them examined how they performed with SEL in a way that would enable researchers and educators to draw conclusions about what is and is not effective.
Several studies have shown that SEL is linked to better classroom performance, a greater capacity to handle stress and despair, and more optimistic attitudes towards oneself and others. However, Cipriano is concerned that SEL may not be accessible to students with disabilities because most curriculum-related research does not provide "true depiction" of those kids.
Cipriano does not believe that it was done on purpose to exclude kids from SEL research and programming. She claims that instead, it shows a lack of understanding of what it would take to truly incorporate them.
By virtue of their very being in the space, it is not inclusive, claims Cipriano. "That fully inclusive community is created through the contact and involvement, their access to the curriculum, and the way they are treated."
How can SEL include students with disabilities?
Because there are so many SEL programmes in place in schools all around the country, navigating the path towards full inclusion might seem intimidating. But, the National Center for Learning Disorders (NCLD) has developed a roadmap to assist educators. Seven "principles" were developed by the nonprofit organisation for supporting kids with impairments and intersecting identities.
The NCLD's suggestions centre on ensuring that students have access to a SEL programme. This can be done by explicitly teaching background material prior to a session or giving a glossary of words, as well as by offering accommodations like extra time or text-to-speech features and ensuring that training can be customised for each learner.
Recognizing that a student might have a disability that affects how they interact with others can look like this in the classroom. For instance, a youngster might not feel confident making eye contact with teachers or peers. When determining if a kid is proficient in particular SEL concepts, that skill shouldn't be necessary.
According to Lindsay Kubatzky, the NCLD's director of policy and advocacy, what we consider to be normal conduct needs to be expanded to include people with disabilities and people from diverse backgrounds.
Similarly, Cipriano asserts that many children, including those without impairments, will never adopt the mindful breathing technique, despite it being widely advocated by SEL programming as a useful soothing tool. While under stress, they can choose to speak with a friend or encouraging adult instead. According to Cipriano, offering or favouring a specific sort of coping ability is exclusive to all kids.
According to developmental psychologist Dr. Tia Kim, all kids may develop their SEL abilities, regardless of whether they have a disability. She advises educators not to pick out students who are having difficulty with this if they are suffering in general. Instead, individuals could also require what is referred to as "layered" support, such as individual or small group training and opportunities to apply what they are learning in ways that work for them, in addition to classroom SEL courses aimed to benefit everyone.
Kim oversees Committee for Children's efforts to continuously assess and enhance its Second Step SEL initiatives, which are vice president of education, research, and impact. According to Kim, the company strives to give students different methods to interact with the classes in order to make sure that their curriculum accommodates a variety of learning styles. For instance, a session may now incorporate options like acting and sketching in addition to the traditional requirement that pupils react to a prompt with written responses.
According to Kubatzky, parents of students with disabilities who are worried that SEL isn't inclusive of their child might ask the school when families similar to theirs were included in the curriculum-selection process and if the programming was created in collaboration with the disability community. Parents can consider whether their own children or themselves perceive themselves in the curriculum.
IEPs and 504 plans are required by law to formally identify the services or accommodations a student requires in order to access any curriculum, including SEL. IEPs and 504 plans can assist instructors understand what students need in order to fully participate in SEL education, which can be helpful for parents of students with disabilities.
Erin Crosby hopes SEL consistently incorporated disability education based on her personal experience as a student with a disability so that all students understood the social consequences of having a handicap. For students with disabilities who are routinely bullied by other students, teachers, and even their own parents, such instruction might make a significant difference.
Because students with disabilities require specific supports and accommodations in order to succeed, according to Crosby, this behaviour is still "rampant," which can lead to resentment and negative attention from both students and teachers who are unaware of how disabilities affect students in the classroom.
Crosby observes, "There's more comprehension, but there's still a long way to go. People continue to mistakenly believe that equity, which ensures that everyone has access to what they need, is equivalent to fairness, which requires that everyone receive the same thing.
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