Participation in Out-of-Home Environments for Young Children With and Without Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

This study examines caregivers' perceptions of participation patterns and environmental supports and barriers for young children with and without developmental disabilities within their child care/preschool and community settings. The Young Children's Participation and Environment Measure (YC-PEM) was completed by 151 parents of Singaporean children (0-7 years old) with and without developmental disabilities. Setting-specific summary and item-level scores of these children were compared using ANCOVA, Mann-Whitney U, and Pearson chi-square tests. Children with developmental disabilities had significantly lower participation and environment summary scores in both settings as compared with children without developmental disabilities (p < .05; η p 2 = 0.03-0.31). Group differences were also evident at the item level, particularly when comparing the percentage of parents who desire change in their child's activity participation. Adequate financial support, public awareness, programs, and services have been identified as environmental factors that are potentially important to parents of children with developmental disabilities.

Differences between Pre-School Children with and without Special Educational Needs Functioning, Participation, and Environmental Barriers at Home and in Community Settings: An International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health for Children and Youth Approach

“…The present study reports that parents of children with higher levels of functioning perceive fewer environmental factors as barriers to participation. Then, as previous research reports (Lim et al, 2016;Kang et al, 2017), when compared with parents of typically developing children, in the present study, parents of children with SEN perceived more environmental factors as barriers both at home and in the community setting. Furthermore, this study aimed at identifying specific environmental factors perceived by parents of children with SEN as barriers to provide some preliminary evidence about the nature of these aspects that are hindering child participation.…”

“…Different studies describe the participation of young children with disabilities as restricted when compared with their typically developing peers, namely in terms of the intensity of participation (Chiarello et al, 2012), the frequency of participation and involvement in daily life activities (Lim et al, 2016), child independence, and enjoyment (Soref et al, 2011). Parents of young children with disabilities report lower satisfaction levels (Soref et al, 2011), more difficulties and restrictions (Khetani et al, 2013b), and desire more change in their child participation (Lim et al, 2016) than parents of typically developing children.…”

“…Parents of young children with disabilities report lower satisfaction levels (Soref et al, 2011), more difficulties and restrictions (Khetani et al, 2013b), and desire more change in their child participation (Lim et al, 2016) than parents of typically developing children.…”

“…Recent studies document that parents of pre-school children with disabilities identify more environmental barriers and fewer environmental supports at home and in the community (Lim et al, 2016;Kang et al, 2017). Those barriers were related to the physical design of home and community, family resources, social attitudes, assistance and supports outside of home, transportation, and assistive devices or equipment (Kang et al, 2017).…”

“…Those barriers were related to the physical design of home and community, family resources, social attitudes, assistance and supports outside of home, transportation, and assistive devices or equipment (Kang et al, 2017). Adequate financial support, public awareness, programs, and services were also identified as environmental factors potentially important for parents of young children with disabilities (Lim et al, 2016). The USA Division for Early Childhood (2014) recommends adjustments to these physical and social environments to support young children's health, learning, and development.…”