Abstract:Background: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adapted by the United Nations envisions inclusive and equitable quality education. While there is a growing body of research on interventions designed to help children on the autism spectrum adapt to the school environment, accommodations to children needs have been given less attention. Objective: To synthesize the literature on accommodations in the learning environment for children on the autism spectrum (ages 5-19 years) in mainstream school, with a s… Show more
“…It is also viewed as an approach that should focus on improving the learning environment, routines, procedures, pedagogy, staff behaviors and attitudes, not manipulating students, which would follow the concept of "integration". However, the literature on specific inclusive educational actions is rather scare (13), and what inclusion should entail in practice for teachers and other school staff is often not specified and followed-up, or a matter of debate (14). Therefore, it is largely unknown, if and which concrete actions are currently implemented in mainstream schools by staff which could be subsumed as inclusive, although it has been hypothesized that inclusive practice remains poor for students with NDDs (15).…”
Inclusion' aims to achieve adaptation of the environment to the diverse prerequisites and needs of individuals, instead of demanding of individuals to cope with the challenges of a given context themselves exclusively. All Scandinavian countries have made formal decisions to enhance inclusive practice for children and adolescents with disabilities in educational settings, seeking to implement international conventions. We investigated current inclusive practice for students with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) in Swedish primary, secondary and high-schools using the 61-item INCLUSIO scale among N=4778 school staff with educational responsibilities in 68 public and private schools across 11 municipalities. Overall, school staff reported not to be well prepared to teach students with NDDs and that their school's implementation of concrete inclusive practice was limited. Findings indicate a gap between inclusive educational ambitions and current practice for students with NDDs. Enriched teacher education and supervision for NDDs, a shift in pedagogical views of NDDs and better collaboration between community services, as well as systematic evidence-based implementation plans driven by policy makers and educational authorities may help improve inclusive practice.
“…It is also viewed as an approach that should focus on improving the learning environment, routines, procedures, pedagogy, staff behaviors and attitudes, not manipulating students, which would follow the concept of "integration". However, the literature on specific inclusive educational actions is rather scare (13), and what inclusion should entail in practice for teachers and other school staff is often not specified and followed-up, or a matter of debate (14). Therefore, it is largely unknown, if and which concrete actions are currently implemented in mainstream schools by staff which could be subsumed as inclusive, although it has been hypothesized that inclusive practice remains poor for students with NDDs (15).…”
Inclusion' aims to achieve adaptation of the environment to the diverse prerequisites and needs of individuals, instead of demanding of individuals to cope with the challenges of a given context themselves exclusively. All Scandinavian countries have made formal decisions to enhance inclusive practice for children and adolescents with disabilities in educational settings, seeking to implement international conventions. We investigated current inclusive practice for students with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) in Swedish primary, secondary and high-schools using the 61-item INCLUSIO scale among N=4778 school staff with educational responsibilities in 68 public and private schools across 11 municipalities. Overall, school staff reported not to be well prepared to teach students with NDDs and that their school's implementation of concrete inclusive practice was limited. Findings indicate a gap between inclusive educational ambitions and current practice for students with NDDs. Enriched teacher education and supervision for NDDs, a shift in pedagogical views of NDDs and better collaboration between community services, as well as systematic evidence-based implementation plans driven by policy makers and educational authorities may help improve inclusive practice.
“…This review concluded that while evidence is emerging of the benefits of pedagogical and psychosocial accommodations in enabling outcomes for autistic students there is a need for innovative approaches and research methods to evaluate the role of environmental accommodations in improving outcomes. [ 61 ] Bearing testament to this conclusion was the finding that no study to date has examined the role of accommodations in the physical environment in improving outcomes in autistic children. Consistently research in the field of NDDs highlights that environmental factors, particularly organizational factors [ 62 ] and people in positions of authority in education systems, [ 60 ] can play in enabling inclusion and improving outcomes for autistic youth.…”
Section: The Icf For Modeling Environmental Determinants and Strengthsmentioning
Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), such as autism and ADHD, are behaviorally defined adaptive functioning difficulties arising from variations, alterations and atypical maturation of the brain. While it is widely agreed that NDDs are complex conditions with their presentation and functional impact underpinned by diverse genetic and environmental factors, contemporary and polarizing debate has focused on the appropriateness of the biomedical as opposed to the neurodiverse paradigm in framing conceptions of these conditions. Despite being largely overlooked by both research and practice, the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF) endorsed by the World Health Organization in 2001 views functioning dynamically, offering a framework for investigating, assessing and treating NDDs holistically. Exemplified by autism and ADHD, we argue that the ICF provides not only a multitude of opportunities in accounting for the environmental determinants in researching and clinically managing NDDs, but opportunities for harmonizing the seemingly irreconcilable biomedical and neurodiverse paradigms. Also see the video abstract here: https:
“…I could not spontaneously name colleagues conducting research in autism and career guidance counseling or name any prominent articles or reviews on the topic. This, despite the fact that I have worked in closely connected fields and helped generate the International Society of Autism Research (INSAR) policy brief, 4 which is based on a systematic review, and a qualitative and quantitative study (Black et al, 2019, 2020; Scott et al, 2019), as well as other neighboring issues such as mentoring programs at universities and the significance of environmental adaptation to autistic students’ needs (Leifler et al, 2020; Thompson et al, 2019, 2020).…”
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confidence: 99%
“…Editorial significance of environmental adaptation to autistic students' needs (Leifler et al, 2020;Thompson et al, 2019Thompson et al, , 2020.…”
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