The transition to school of children with developmental disabilities: Views of parents and teachers

Abstract

THE TRANSITION FROM EARLY INTERvENTION programs to inclusive school settings presents a range of social challenges for children with developmental disabilities. In Queensland, in the year of transition to school, many children with developmental disabilities attend an Early Childhood Development Program for two to three days each week and also begin attendance in a mainstream program, with the latter increasing to full-time attendance during the year. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected by questionnaires regarding 62 children participating in the Transition to School Project. Their parents and teachers were asked for their perceptions of the success of the transition process and the benefits and challenges of inclusion. Both parents and teachers saw a range of benefits to children from their inclusion in 'regular' classrooms, with parents noting the helpfulness of teachers and their support for inclusion. Challenges noted by parents included the school's lack of preparation for their child's particular developmental needs, especially in terms of the physical environment, while teachers reported challenges in meeting the needs of these children within the context and resources of the classroom. Parents were more likely than teachers to view the transition as easy. Correlational analyses indicated that teachers were more likely to view the transition as easy when they felt the child was appropriately placed in a 'regular' classroom. Findings from this project can inform the development of effective transition-to-school programs in the early school years for children with developmental disabilities.

The Children’s Attention Project: a community-based longitudinal study of children with ADHD and non-ADHD controls

“…Measures of child outcomes are all reliable, valid scales, with excellent psychometric properties, sensitivity to intervention and widely used in Australia and internationally. Measures of possible determinants also have robust psychometric properties, are brief, and are mostly drawn from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) [41,42]. Family demographic information collected at baseline (and repeated for those variables that can change over time) include parents’ age, employment, education, mental health diagnoses (including family history of ADHD), income, family composition and whether the child has ever lived for an extended period of time out of parental care.…”

Enabling the Exercise of Choice and Control: How early Childhood Intervention Professionals may Support Families and Young Children with a Disability to Exercise Choice and Control in the Context of the National Disability Insurance Scheme

“…Effective collaboration is the practice that supports mutuality. A number of studies have drawn conclusions consistent with this approach (Darragh, 2009;Drew, DeBortoli, Brentnall & Bundy, 2014;Espe-Sherwindt, 2008;Walker et al, 2012). Indeed, development of positive working relationships with families is an essential attribute and skill required by both early childhood educators and ECI professionals (ECIA, 2016).…”

“…ECI professionals act as a 'resource', providing specialist expertise, knowledge and skills to families as they evaluate and select their choices (Bourke-Taylor et al, 2015). As school transition projects in New South Wales (NSW) have found, resources and information provided by ECI professionals assisted families to identify goals and supports for their child (NSW Government, 2015;Walker et al, 2012). Furthermore, feedback about ECI professionals in Victoria has consistently found that families valued the information provided, as well as opportunities for discussion to identify the supports they considered necessary (Brien, 2014a).…”

Cognitive, language and behavioral outcomes in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders exposed to early comprehensive treatment models: A meta-analysis and meta-regression

“…If intervention approaches play a role, this role should not be underestimated. Thus, given that the transition to school and community is often di cult and stressful for individuals with ASD and their families, there is a pressing need for systematic knowledge of the outcomes in midchildhood and adolescence and their predictive factors in children with ASD who have been exposed to a CTM to provide timely support [23].…”