Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation

20-32

Authors: Milena NIKOLIĆ, Medina VANTIĆ-TANJIĆ, Alma DIZDAREVIĆ

The purpose of the research was to see whether work of special educators and rehabilitators in the regular school has a positive influence on peer relationship among students with delayed cognitive development. The accent was on friendship quality, social competence and antisocial behavior. The research comprised 150 students with slow cognitive development, 52 of who have support of special educators and rehabilitators in regular education, while the remaining 98 students are without support. Friendship quality was evaluated applying Friendship Quality Questionnaire. School Social Behavior Scale was used in order to evaluate social competence and antisocial behavior. Differences among the groups were examined by t-test from SPSS 14 Windows software package. The results have shown that students with slow cognitive development having support from special educators and rehabilitators evaluate their friendship more qualitative. Students with delayed cognitive development attending schools without special educators and rehabilitators engaged demonstrate better level of the social competence. As far as antisocial behavior concerns, no differences were found. The results obtained indicate need for redefining the role of special educators and rehabilitators in regular primary education.

45-53

Authors: Haris MEMISEVIC, Selmir HADZIC

Fine motor skills are prerequisite for many everyday activities and they are a good predictor of a child's later academic outcome. The goal of the present study was to assess the effects of age on the development of fine motor coordination and visual-motor integration in preschool children. The sample for this study consisted of 276 preschool children from Canton Sara­jevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. We assessed children's motor skills with Beery Visual Motor Integration Test and Lafayette Pegboard Test. Data were analyzed with one-way ANOVA, followed by planned com­parisons between the age groups. We also performed a regression analysis to assess the influence of age and motor coordination on visual-motor integration. The results showed that age has a great effect on the development of fine motor skills. Furthermore, the results indicated that there are possible sensitive periods at preschool age in which the development of fine motor skills is accelerated. Early intervention specialists should make a thorough evaluations of fine motor skills in preschool children and make motor (re)habilitation programs for children at risk of fine motor delays.

66-77

Authors: Mohammad HOJATI, Mohammad ABBASI

Learning disability is a life-long condition that can affect academic functioning, everyday life and social life. In multiple areas, academic and other, students with LD often underachieve, and often with pervasive negative consequences. This study compared self-efficacy and hope in 30 elementary school (sixth grade) children with learning disabilities (LD) and 30 their peers without LD. An ex post facto design was used. Statistical population comprised of all students in elementary schools (sixth grade) in, Harsin, Iran, during the 2012-2013 academic year. Students with learning disabilities were randomly selected. The students with LD had been diagnosed by Colorado Learning Difficulties Questionnaire (CLDQ). The students completed the Wechsler Memory Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, and Children’s Hope Scale. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 20) was used for computing descriptive statistics and analysis of variance. Differences were found between the groups on the self-efficacy and hope. The study demon­strated the important role of self-efficacy and hope for students with LD.

98-99

Authors: Ana PETKOVSKA

For third time this year, the Open Access Week was organized, thus contributing to raising public awareness of open access in science. The event took place on 24th October at the hall for translation and interpretation at the Faculty of Philology in Skopje. Presenters at this event were: Dimitar Popovski, doctoral student at the Department of Information Science in Zagreb, Prof. Dr. Vladimir Trajkovski, Editor in Chief of Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation (JSER) and Irina Shumadieva and Sead Dzigal, project coordinators of “Open Educational Resources initiatives in the Republic of Macedonia”. At the beginning, Dimitar Popovski stressed the purpose of this event which is promoting Open Access in the Republic of Macedonia and raising awareness of open access academic publishing. Open Access Week is, actually, a world-open access week and this event is happening in a total of 170-180 countries. In his speech, Dimitar Popovski emphasized the Macedonian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering as an online journal with the highest impact factor in Macedonia and continued with the presentation tools “Zotero” and “Mendeley” which represent online managers for organizing and sharing research resources. Prof. Dr. Vladimir Trajkovski addressed the attendees with the topic Open Journal System (OJS) of Philosophy which is a system for managing and publishing journals, developed by Public Knowledge Project (PKP). OJS is designed specifically to help researchers and faculties in the publication of peer-reviewed Open Access Journals. Further, Prof. d-r Trajkovski explain the purpose of the OJS, the need and the characteristics of the OJS, its flexibility and its advantages. At the end, there was a presentation by Irina Shumadieva and Sead Dzigal for Metamorphosis contribution in the field of open access and open educational resources, which highlighted that the developed tools and content are still used by stakeholders. A video streaming was provided for those who were not able to attend the event.

103-104

Authors: Ana PETKOVSKA

On 22nd of December 2012 the Macedonian Scientific Society for Autism (MSSA) together with the Rotary Club Skopje - Cyril and Methodius organized a New Year party for children with autistic spectrum disorder. The party was held in the playground Astera in Skopje, Taftalidze, and lasted for about 2 hours. The party was attended by 34 children with autistic spectrum disorder together with their siblings. Because the majority of children were on gluten free diet, there were packets with extensive educational material and specialized toys for them and a convenient number of packets with similar content was provided for their siblings. As a part of the program was the inevitable Santa who, according to the scenario, appeared at one point of time and gave the packets to the children. From obvious reasons, personal, technical and spatial, there was no opportunity for the media with photo and video cameras to be present at the celebration. It is also in the interest of fulfilling the parents’ desire for anonymity. But Rotary Club provided video and photo documentation already set available on online platforms ("Facebook" "Youtube" the website MSSA: www.mssa.org.mk). It should be noted that the Rotary Club Skopje - Cyril and Methodius conducts a project for aiding and socialization of children with autism in the Republic of Macedonia. The entire project, from the outset is conducted in full cooperation and coordination with the members of the MSSA.

107-110

Authors: Marija CAKIC

The Master’s thesis is presented on 117 pages. The paper contains the following sections: introduction, theoretical approach to the problem of the research, analysis and interpretation of results, conclusions with proposed measures, literature and articles. The introduction emphasizes the stereotype about people with disabilities in our society, the widespread discrimination and stigmatization as fundamental barriers in the social inclusion of people with disabilities. The high degree of prejudice, the architectural barriers and the indifferent attitude of the state restricts the fundamental rights and freedoms of persons with disabilities. Young people with disabilities do not always have conditions and opportunities to participate actively in all spheres of social life, as the other citizens.