Disabilities, Volume 5, Issue 4 (December 2025) – 2 articles

Inclusive education aims to ensure not only academic development but also social participation among students with intellectual disabilities. However, research consistently shows that students with intellectual disabilities are prone to social exclusion in secondary school settings. While theoretical frameworks increasingly highlight the importance of contextual and systemic factors—particularly classroom social dynamics—empirical studies on teachers’ practices for fostering participation remain scarce. This qualitative study investigates how secondary school teachers in inclusive classrooms perceive and enact their role in promoting social participation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 teachers from various German secondary schools. The data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis based on the social dynamics management (SDM) framework, which distinguishes between universal, selected, and indicated intervention levels. The results reveal that teachers use a wide range of strategies across all three levels. In addition to the categories proposed by the SDM framework, two further areas were identified inductively: (1) teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and (2) internal and external cooperation. These findings suggest a need to expand the SDM model and provide guidance for the professional development of teachers aiming to promote inclusive classroom environments. Full article

Individuals with severe intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour often face limited access to effective therapeutic interventions, as conventional approaches like cognitive behavioural therapy may not be suitable. Creative arts therapies (CATs), psychomotor therapy, and play therapy have emerged as promising non-verbal alternatives, yet their use in this population remains underexplored. This scoping review aimed to map and synthesize the existing evidence on the application and outcomes of these interventions for individuals with severe intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour. A comprehensive search was conducted across eight databases in May 2023 (with an update of the search in June 2025). Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria, namely eight quantitative and five qualitative designs. Interventions included music therapy (n = 7), art therapy (n = 4), a combination of both (n = 1), and play therapy (n = 1); no studies on psychomotor therapy were identified. Reported outcomes were grouped into five domains: cognitive, psychological and emotional, social and interactional, communicative, and creative domain. Improvements were observed in areas such as attention, emotional regulation, social responsiveness, and communicative expression, particularly in structured and attuned therapeutic environments. However, most studies had methodological limitations, including small sample sizes and limited standardisation. These findings suggest potential benefits of CATs and play therapy, while highlighting the need for further research into underrepresented modalities and the use of rigorous single-case experimental designs. Full article