Participation of Students With Physical Disabilities in the School Environment

Abstract

To promote school participation of students with disabilities, occupational therapists should consider a confluence of child, environmental, and task factors rather than focusing on individual aspects.

School experiences of pupils with physical impairments over time

“…The interview guide contains 16 topics to be discussed that provide information about the pupil's participation and need for supports within school. The School Setting Interview was also used when the youth were in primary school (Egilson 2005;Egilson and Traustadóttir 2009b). Following the first interview a visit was made to each adolescent's secondary school (three hours on average), focusing on the physical layout, accessibility and attitudes within the school.…”

“…Reportedly a confluence of factors affect disabled pupils' possibilities for active involvement within school. School participation differs depending on the occasion and type of activity because some school settings typically present more challenges than others (Egilson and Hemmingsson 2009;Egilson and Traustadóttir 2009b;Eriksson and Granlund 2004;Eriksson, Welander, and Granlund 2007). Factors of importance for most pupils with physical impairments include physical accessibility and adaptations of educational tools and assignments; positive attitudes; and inclusive practices including pupil-teacher cooperation and responsiveness to pupils' capacities and needs (Asbjørnslett and Hemmingsson 2008;Egilson and Traustadóttir 2009b;Shevlin, Kenny, and McNeela 2002).…”

“…As with every youth, a number of personal factors also affect school participation of pupils with physical impairments such as their cognitive, social and physical abilities (Almqvist and Granlund 2005;Egilson and Traustadóttir 2009b;Steinberg 2005). Wendelborg and Tössebro (2010) point out the changing relations between disabled children's characteristics and their school environment as the children grow older, which often leads to increased marginalization.…”

Disability Studies in Iceland: past, present and future

“…The major areas of the early Icelandic disability research and writings of the 1990s Á education, childhood and families Á continue to be among those that still occupy scholars in Disability Studies as evident in recent publications (Bjarnason 2008a(Bjarnason , 2008b(Bjarnason , 2011Egilson 2011, Egilson andHemmingsson 2009;Egilson and Traustadó ttir 2009a, 2009b, 2009cLlewellyn et al 2010; Traustadó ttir, Sigurjó nsdóttir, and Gunnarsson 2010). However, in the last two decades Disability Studies and disability research in Iceland have expanded and become considerably more interdisciplinary than in the early days when it was largely dominated by social science and education.…”

Nordic perspectives on disability studies in education: a review of research in Finland and Iceland

“…The fifth theme concerns factors that facilitate or hinder school participation by students with physical disabilities and conducts an exploration of how those factors interact (Egilson, 2011(Egilson, , 2014Egilson & Traustadóttir, 2009a, 2009b.…”