Accessible Summary
This paper reviews the present educational needs of children and young people and autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) in Egypt.
Children with ASD are largely unrecognised by the educational provision in Egypt.
This paper highlights the need for an improved educational programme for children with ASD who also experience an associated learning disability and learning difficulties.
It is crucial to develop teacher support programmes and empower teachers to enable children and young people with ASD develop their fullest potential.
Abstract
This paper outlines, through a transnational discourse between partners in Egypt and the UK, an overview of the literature on the definition and features of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) with associated learning needs and health conditions as applied to children and young people in Egypt. As a low‐ to middle‐income country, Egypt has a poor and underdeveloped health, education and social service to support children with ASD and very little research has investigated this phenomenon. This paper adds to the discussion through the shared knowledge and practice in the educational curriculum of children with ASD in Egypt.
Purpose
This paper reports research findings on the experiences of parents/carers of children with special education needs and disabilities who present violent and challenging behaviour. More specifically, the purpose of this paper is to explore how parents/carers report how their support needs are met by social care services.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is an empirical study which considers the challenging side of parenting children with additional needs. Data were gathered through a national online social media focus group and thematically analysed to identify emerging themes from an overlooked community. The study applied a participatory approach, with researchers and participants collaborating in designing and producing the research.
Findings
Participants reported a multitude of adversities and they experience difficulties in accessing support from professionals. The parents and carers expressed a continued desire to care for their children, often during much adversity and in receipt of little recognition or support from external agencies. An emerging theme was that they are often not assessed in their own right by agencies who focus on safeguarding.
Research limitations/implications
In this online participatory study, participants were self-selecting and the research relied on self-report during online discussions.
Originality/value
This study is original in applying an innovative research methodology using online focus groups with an under researched community. This online focus group generated real time data and offered participants the opportunity to share information in their own environments. The themes emerging from this research have implications for policy and practice for an under reported adult community who experience increasing vulnerabilities.
Background
People with intellectual disabilities are more likely to experience sleep problems, which can affect quality of life, physical health, mental health and well‐being.
Methods
An integrative literature review was conducted to investigate what is known about behavioural sleep disturbances in people with an intellectual disability. The search used the following databases: Scopus, PsycInfo and Cinahl, to find papers published since 2015.
Results
Within intellectual disability research, sleep appears as a common issue due to its high prevalence, negative relationships with an individual's physical and mental health, their quality of life, and impact of sleep problems on family or carers. The growing evidence base appears to support the use of behavioural, lifestyle and pharmacological interventions to improve sleep in people with an intellectual disability.
Conclusion
A wide array of literature provides evidence that people with intellectual disabilities are affected by and need support with their sleep.
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