Parent and teacher perceptions of emerging special health care needs

Abstract

Parents and teachers bring different perspectives to children's development and additional support needs, each of which is valuable. Greater attention should be given to ensuring that common understandings about a child's needs at school are established early in children's educational pathways.

Trends in the prevalence and distribution of teacher‐identified special health‐care needs across three successive population cohorts

“…SHCN status (established needs, emerging needs, standard population) was determined from existing teacher‐reported data in the AEDC. This teacher‐reported assessment of SHCN has been shown to correlate with other developmental indicators as expected and should be interpreted as an indicator of SHCN in the school setting . Items were consistent across each data collection, except where noted below.…”

“…The AEDC is a cross‐sectional population measure of children's development completed by teachers, adapted from the Canadian Early Development Instrument . Teachers are important informants on children's SHCN as manifested in the classroom and school environments, the demands of which often highlight children's additional support needs . As such, their reports should be interpreted as an indicator of SHCN contextualised within the school setting.…”

Better support for children with additional health and developmental needs in school settings: Perspectives of education experts

“…Relationships emerged as a vulnerable but potentially rich resource for collaboration with families and the community at large. Families often struggle to navigate the complex education and health systems, but have essential expertise about their child's health and development (O'Connor, Rosema, Quach, Kvalsvig, & Goldfeld, 2016). Evidence demonstrates that an important component in supporting children at risk is the development of a coordinated approach, which values the input and perspectives of all stakeholders involved (Cohen & Syme, 2013; O'Connor et al, 2016).…”

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

“…Additional needs in the first year of school (emerging, established, or standard population) were derived from teacher reports in the AEDC. Teacher reports of children's additional needs in the AEDC have been shown to correlate with other developmental indicators as expected (O'Connor, Rosema, Quach, Kvalsvig, & Goldfeld, ) and should be interpreted as an indicator of additional needs as contextualized within the school setting (O'Connor et al, ; O'Connor et al, ).…”

“…This study draws on data from over 40,000 children, providing strong evidence of an association between teacher‐identified emerging additional needs and academic outcomes. Examining these associations specifically for children with emerging additional needs raise their visibility, and using teachers as informants is advantageous when aiming to capture functioning within the school context (Janus, Offord, & Walsh, ; O'Connor et al, ; O'Connor et al, ). Nevertheless, a number of limitations should be born in mind.…”