Paper Short Abstract:

The inclusion of children with intellectual disabilities in research involves various issues and dilemmas that go beyond those considered in relation to children in general. It is essential to describe the challenges encountered during the conduct of inclusive research processes, as well as the compromises between inclusive postulates and social possibilities that the researcher faces. The paper presents my experiences: difficulties and my own attempts to respond to them, in research that I carried out with preschool children with intellectual disabilities.

Paper Abstract:

As a result of legal acts and activist movements, childhood and disability are no longer described only by the voices of parents or teachers talking “about them.” Research is increasingly being conducted “with”. Focusing on their experiences as competent people who have an impact on reality. Where the areas of disability and childhood intersect, there is research with children with disabilities, who are key stakeholders in their lives. This paper concerns my experiences regarding the participation of children with intellectual disabilities in research that I carried out as part of the project: Pandemic and post-pandemic children's worlds financed by the National Science Centre in Poland.The aim was to analyse the changes in society that have taken place with the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of young children.The participants of the interviews included groups of preschoolers.In Poland preschool is the stage where the success of inclusive education can be assessed highly.

The project was based on creative research methods and the principles of accessibility and assumed the spontaneous participation of children with diverse needs and abilities.However, including children with id turned out to be difficult and required a dynamic response.Describing the change in the place that children with id occupied in its,seems to me an interesting continuation of the postulate that descriptions of participatory research involving children with disabilities should more honestly present the experiences of challenges and successes.