Learning outcomes of children with teacher‐identified emerging health and developmental needs

Abstract

Objectives: Children's additional health and developmental needs are often first identified by teachers when they begin school. This study estimates the Grade 3 literacy and numeracy outcomes of children with teacher-identified additional needs emerging in the first year of school, including the added burden conferred by socioeconomic disadvantage. Methods:Population linked data (n = 42,619) were analysed from the Australian Early Development Census, which include teacher reports on children's health and development at school entry, and the National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy, a direct assessment of reading and numeracy skills at Grade 3. Linear regression analyses were used to estimate associations between emerging needs and learning outcomes, adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics. The combined effect of emerging needs and low maternal education (an indicator of socioeconomic disadvantage) on academic outcomes was examined by estimating the relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI). Results: Emerging health and developmental needs at school entry were associated with lower reading (b = −26.86, 95% CI = −29.19, −24.52) and numeracy (b = −24.39, 95% CI = −26.43, −22.35) outcomes at Grade 3. The combined effect of emerging needs and socioeconomic disadvantage was greater than expected when their individual effects are summed (RERI = 0.38, 95% CI 0.22, 0.55 for reading and RERI = 0.27, 95% CI 0.10, 0.43 for numeracy).Conclusion: In the current study, emerging health and developmental needs identified by teachers at the outset of schooling were associated with poorer literacy and numeracy skills at Grade 3, and family socioeconomic disadvantage appeared to further amplify this effect. Meeting the needs of these children will require timely and coordinated supports across the health and education systems, particularly for those children who are also disadvantaged. K E Y W O R D Sacademic achievement, additional needs, disability, school functioning, special educational needs and disabilities, special health care needs

Use of health services by preschool-aged children who are developmentally vulnerable and socioeconomically disadvantaged: testing the inverse care law

“…Around one in five Australian preschool children have physical, socioemotional and learning difficulties that require additional support for school success—that is, they are ‘developmentally vulnerable’ 1–4. Children who developmentally vulnerable are more likely to have poor educational outcomes in primary school and early high school 5 6. As adults, these inequities widen, presenting as higher levels of morbidity and mortality, lower levels of academic achievement, poorer employment opportunities and reduced participation in society 7–9…”

Examining the Educational Gap for Children with ADHD and Subthreshold ADHD

“…Access to Individual Education Plans (IEPs) and Student Support Groups (SSGs) are at the discretion of individual school principals and often requires strong advocacy from parents. In Australia, only 4% of children have diagnoses that qualify them to access services, whilst 18% identified with emerging needs do not qualify (O’Connor et al, 2020). However, the Australian National Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) is beginning to address this gap by having schools examine the type of adjustments that they make in the classroom for students based on student’s functional needs, as opposed to clinical diagnosis criteria.…”

Special health care needs during childhood and academic achievement in secondary school

“…The interactions were not significant, contrary to the hypothesis that children in low SES families are not only more likely to have chronic conditions but also more likely to be adversely impacted by them (Jackson, 2015; O'Connor et al, 2015). However, previous findings on SES‐by‐condition interactions with school achievement or attainment outcomes are conflicting, including no interaction (De Ridder et al, 2013; Mikkonen et al, 2020) and stronger adverse effects of conditions among low SES (Jackson, 2015; Mikkonen et al, 2020; O'Connor et al, 2020) or high SES (Crump et al, 2013) families. It may be that these interactive effects depend on the socio‐economic domain, health problem, child age or academic outcome of interest, as these varied across studies and some previous work (Mikkonen et al, 2020) indicates that the presence of effect modification may vary across some of these factors.…”

“…Alternatively, they may be less adversely impacted if they have a lower academic starting point (Jackson, 2009). Few studies have examined interactions between SES and chronic conditions, with mixed results (Crump et al, 2013; De Ridder et al, 2013; Jackson, 2015; Mikkonen et al, 2020; O'Connor et al, 2020).…”