THE SIGNIFICANCE OF INDIVIDUAL PREFERENCES IN PUPILS WITH SEVERE CEREBRAL PALSY IN THE CONTEXT OF SPECIAL EDUCATION INTERVENTION

The paper summarizes the results of a quality based study of individual preferences in pupils with severe cerebral palsy (CP) and their use in the educational process. The data was collected from semi-structured interviews with teachers, analyses of educational documents on pupils, observation of the educational process and several case studies. The quality based analysis was performed by means of open, axial and selective coding, based on which special education intervention models were developed. Further analyses led to conclusions that can be divided into two areas. The first describes mental mechanisms influencing the liking of certain stimuli and situations related to social interaction and placing them into the context of some significant variables. The second area focuses on the process of perception of preferred stimuli and its specifics. The paper also addresses some methodological issues encountered in researching pupils with severe CP.