Factors associated with the participation of children with complex communication needs

Abstract

The aim of this study was to conduct a preliminary analysis of relations between child and environmental variables, including factors related to communication aid provision, and participation in informal everyday activities in a sample of children with complex communication needs.Ninety-seven caregivers of children provided with communication aids responded to a questionnaire survey. Child variables assessed were level of ability, trait emotional selfefficacy, and competence in communication aid use. Environmental variables assessed were the impact of childhood disability on the family, family socio-economic category, perceived reliability of electronic communication aids provided to children, and ease of use of the aid.The outcome measure was the intensity of child participation in informal activities.Significant correlations were observed between participation scores and the following variables: child age, level of ability, trait emotional self-efficacy, and family impact of childhood disability. Regression analyses highlighted trait emotional self-efficacy and, to a lesser degree, family impact of childhood disability as the strongest potential predictors of participation.While aspects of child personality may be difficult to disentangle from behaviours related to disability type or developmental age, this research highlights a clinical requirement to assess systematically child behaviours relating to their general emotional functioning.

Factors Associated With Participation and Change Over Time in Domestic Life, Peer Relations, and School for Adolescents With and Without Self-Reported Neurodevelopmental Disorders. A Follow-Up Prospective Study

“…These person-based elements relating to participation partly overlap with what Imms and Adair (2017) describe as aspects of sense of self related to participation. Several studies (Almqvist and Granlund, 2005;Clarke et al, 2011;Bertills et al, 2018) indicate that there is a moderate to strong relationship between having a strong autonomy or self-efficacy and the two dimensions of participation in children and adolescents with disability.…”

An Examination of Relations Between Participation, Communication and Age in Children with Complex Communication Needs

“…Consequently, multiple factors in addition to age, speech intelligibility and perceived effectiveness of the communication aid will be influential. For example, child emotional functioning has been identified as a predictor of out-of-school participation in children with CCN, and the family impact of raising a child with disabilities is a potentially critical factor (Clarke et al, 2011). Also, variation in ability within groups may influence individual experience of participation.…”

“…These includesuch as children with spinal injury, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorders, learning disabilities and complex communication needs have also been the subject of enquiry (Clarke, Newton, Griffiths, Price, Lysley, & Petrides, 2011;Klaas, Kelly, Gorzkowski, Homko, & Vogel, 2010;Raghavendra et al, 2011;Shimoni, Engel-Yeger, & Tirosh, 2010;Solish, Perry, & Minnes, 2010;Thirumanickam, Raghavendra, & Olsson 2011).…”

“…Factors largely intrinsic to the child such as age, level of motor ability, learning disability, personality traits (especially trait emotional self-efficacy;, see Petrides, Pita, & Kokkinaki, 2007), pain, and communication abilities emerge as salient predictors of participation for children with developmental disabilities (Beckung & Hagberg, 2002;Clarke et al, 2011;Donkervoort, Roebroeck, Wiegerink, Heijden-Maessen, & Stam, 2007;Fauconnier et al, 2009;Forsyth et al, 2007;Hammal et al, 2004;Imms et al, 2009;Orlin et al, 2010;Voorman et al, 2010). The relationship between level of severity of communication disability and level of participation restriction varies across differing participation contexts.…”

“…While there is a relative scarcity of research examining participation specifically in children with CCN provided with communication aids (Clarke et al, 2011;Raghavendra et al, 2011;Thirumanickam et al, 2011), emerging evidence suggests that they experience relatively restricted out-of-school participation compared with non-disabled children (Thirumanickam et al, 2011), and even greater restrictions in social participation and interaction with peer networks than children with physical disability buty without CCN (Raghavendra et al, 2011). For example, Thirumanickam and colleagues (in press) compared extracurricular participation in a group of five children, aged 6;00 to 9;5, with physical disabilities and CCN using communication aids, aged 6;00 to 9;05, with an age matched group of non-disabled children.…”