Supporting siblings of children with a special educational need or disability: An evaluation of Sibs Talk, a one‐to‐one intervention delivered by staff in mainstream schools

Abstract

A group often overlooked for specific supports in schools are siblings of children with a disability, special educational needs or a serious long-term condition (SEND). In this article we review the current sibling research and identify a lack of literature on interventions, particularly within a school context. We then present a description of Sibs Talk, an example of a new school-based intervention to support siblings. Sibs Talk is a tensession, one-to-one intervention approach for schools to complete with Key Stage 2 children who have a brother or sister with SEND. Finally, we present an initial evaluation of the effectiveness of Sibs Talk, using a pre and post evaluation format with a sample of 55 children from 11 schools. The data presented in this evaluation indicate that Sibs Talk may have contributed to positive outcomes for participating children.

Glass children: The lived experiences of siblings of people with a disability or chronic illness

“…An interesting direction for future research would be to explore this phenomenon further: it would be worth considering potential connections or parallels with survivor's guilt or even grief, as young siblings attempt to navigate and process their significant differences from their sisters or brothers who have a disability or chronic illness, and the subsequent implications for both of their futures. The efficacy of peer support has been well‐documented in psychology and there are indications through the recent pilot of the Sibs Talk intervention (Hayden et al, 2019) that increased understanding and knowledge from teachers can contribute towards positive outcomes for siblings. This study demonstrates that many siblings feel strongly that they would have benefited from both contact with other siblings and greater awareness of their situations from teachers: research into the underlying processes of this may prove beneficial in devising future interventions and more formal support structures for young siblings.…”

“…Where it has been trialled, school‐based support for siblings and young carers has been found to be varied and “tokenistic” (Clay et al, 2016, p.77), with many siblings not viewing school as a place where they expected to receive sibling‐specific support, often due to a lack of understanding and awareness from teachers. To improve such negative experiences, the charity “Sibs” piloted a school‐based intervention, in recent years, for siblings which yielded some positive changes for participants, demonstrating the efficacy of targeted interventions (Hayden, McCaffrey, Fraser‐Lim, & Hastings, 2019).…”

Programmes to prepare siblings for future roles to support their brother or sister with a neurodisability: protocol of a scoping review

“…15 Another programme is Sibs Talk, which was developed in the UK for students to develop coping strategies, acquire knowledge about their siblings' disability, address challenges about their experiences at home and school, and identify their responsibilities to their siblings with a disability. 17 Family interventions may also include sessions for siblings to learn about the disability of their brother or sister 18 or learn strategies to interact and socialise with their brother or sister that is reinforced by parents. 19 During adulthood, siblings of individuals with a neurodisability might continue to seek supports and resources to address their concerns, such as the mental health of their whole family, housing options and finances.…”

How I Feel About My School—Adaptation and Validation of an Educational Well-Being Measure among Young Children in Sweden

“…Apart from validation [ 13 ], the HIFAMS has previously been used to evaluate the support of siblings for children with special educational needs or disabilities [ 58 ]. Siblings reported slightly increased perceived happiness after the intervention, although the difference was not statistically significant [ 58 ]. Furthermore, the HIFAMS has been used to compare relative differences for children born at different time points during the year [ 59 ].…”

“…Children with suspected Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) ( n = 47) have also been reported to have significantly lower HIFAMS scores than their peers (mean difference −1.2, 95% CI = [−0.5, −1.8]; p = 0.001) [ 57 ]. The mean score of the HIFAMS at the group level was approximately 11 out of 14 [ 13 , 58 ]. HIFAMS has also been used as a bridge to introduce children to discuss and reflect upon feelings and emotions [ 60 ].…”