BULLYING AND ABSENTEEISM AMONG CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

In this paper we analyse the situation of children with mental and/or physical disabilities who suffer discrimination due to their disabilities by their peers at school. We use a sample of 459 children between 6 and 15 years who suffer some type of disability from the Survey of Dependency, Autonomy and Situations of Dependency (2008). We hypothesize that children with special needs who suffer bullying might develop a less favourable attitude towards schooling and consequently increase periods of absenteeism, which in turn, would reduce their possibilities of successful integration in the society when being adults. Results indicate that there exists a significant correlation between both events, and what is quite worrying, ordinary schools with inclusion programs for children with special need show a significant increase in the probability of bullying and of absenteeism. On the other hand, if the child has learnt to use Braille, uses an earpiece or has received speech rehabilitation, the probabilities of both events reduce.