The association between home learning during COVID‐19 lockdowns and subsequent school attendance among children with neurodevelopmental conditions

Kouroupa, Athanasia; Allard, Amanda; Gray, Kylie Megan; Hastings, Richard P.; Heyne, David; Melvin, Glenn; Tonge, Bruce John; Totsika, Vasiliki

doi:10.1111/cch.13113

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…chronic, persistent, continuous, or frequent). The most common definition was 10% of school time, which was used in seven studies ( K. P. Anderson, 2021 ; Hatton, 2018 ; Jarbou et al, 2022 ; John et al, 2022 ; Kouroupa et al, 2023 ; Mattson et al, 2022 ; Totsika et al, 2020 ). Other definitions included 30 days/year, 4 weeks/year, 3 days/20 days, more than 1 week, or 11 days.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The parents stressed the importance of a partnership between home and school, to address the problem early, and to stop using the term school refusal. One study found that a reason for selecting elective home education was to avoid exclusion from school ( Paulauskaite et al, 2022 ), while one study ( Kouroupa et al, 2023 ) reported that school attendance problems increased during school closure in a group of children with autism and/or intellectual disability.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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School absenteeism in autistic children and adolescents: A scoping review

Nordin,

Palmgren,

Lindbladh

et al. 2023

Autism

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School absenteeism is a major societal problem, with a range of potential adverse long-term consequences. This scoping review aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the research on school absenteeism in autistic children and adolescents, expose important gaps in the literature, and explore possibilities for future systematic reviews. Five relevant databases were searched systematically from inception to June 2023, yielding a total of 46 eligible reports from 42 separate studies. All studies were conducted in high-income countries, and most were published in the last decade. Three major themes emerged: occurrence, contextual factors, and interventions. The results of large-scale population-based studies clearly suggested that autistic children and adolescents were absent from school more often than their non-autistic peers, which partly was attributable to co-occurring conditions. Bullying also emerged as a potential risk factor. Only a few preliminary studies were available on targeted interventions, emphasizing the need for more robust studies. More research is also needed on the mechanisms leading to and maintaining school absenteeism in this group of learners. Overall, the diversity of research questions, methods, and definitions used in this body of research suggests that systematic reviews with narrow focus on a few key questions may still be premature. Lay abstract Autistic children and teenagers are, on average, absent from school more than their peers. The aim of this review was to provide an overview of the research on absence from school in autistic learners in primary and secondary school, to help guide future research. We sifted through 4632 reports and found 42 studies with a focus on school absence and autism. We looked at how, when, and where the studies were conducted. We also summarized the results and outlined how absence was measured in the studies. Absence from school may lead to problems later in life, like incomplete education and unemployment. It is therefore important to know how common this problem is among autistic learners, what the reasons may be, and what type of support they need. The studies were from high-income countries and were mainly published in the last 10 years. Studies based on school registers from the United States and the United Kingdom clearly showed that children and teenagers with autism had higher risk of school absence than those without autism. Absence was often linked to problems with mental health or additional neurodevelopmental conditions. Several studies also showed that absence in autistic children and adolescents was related to problems in school, like bullying or lack of knowledge about autism. Support programs were only evaluated in a few studies with a small number of study participants. We conclude that more research is needed to better understand why autistic learners are absent and what they need to thrive in school.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

School absenteeism in autistic children and adolescents: A scoping review

Nordin,

Palmgren,

Lindbladh

et al. 2023

Autism

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Impact of COVID‐19 lockdown in England on challenging behaviour and adaptive skills for children in a special school: A longitudinal study

Nicholls,

Thompson,

Grindle

et al. 2024

British Educational Res J

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Longitudinal research is crucial to fully assess the putative impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on children with an intellectual disability in special school settings—ideally drawing on data pre‐pandemic to be able to evaluate later impact. Data on challenging behaviour and adaptive skills were collected annually for 348 students in one special school across four time points pre‐pandemic and one time point post‐pandemic. Data were analysed using multilevel models with repeated observations over the five time points. There was a decrease in aggressive and destructive behaviours and a decrease in adaptive skills at the post‐pandemic time point, after accounting for other important covariates. There was no evidence of a change in stereotyped or self‐injurious challenging behaviours. Other research using longitudinal methods is rare, but the current findings are consistent with previous research reporting on the impact of COVID‐19 on children and young people, particularly from parent reports. Future considerations for schools include adopting appropriate strategies to support learners to reintegrate back into education. Further research is needed to look at the longer‐term impact of the pandemic on challenging behaviour in children with an intellectual disability.

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Lessons From the COVID-19 Unplanned Transition to Online Learning at Home for Students With Disability: Socialisation, Technology, Education and Future Research Opportunities

Young,

Clerke

2024

Curr Dev Disord Rep

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Purpose of Review Periods of transition for children and adolescents with disability are complex but usually anticipated. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an unexpected transition to online learning at home for students. This review examines the literature on the transition to online learning at home for students with disabilities in K–12 education during the COVID-19 pandemic and identifies the challenges and perceived benefits that emerged for these students to inform future planned or unplanned transitions to online learning. Recent Findings Thirty-one articles met the inclusion criteria. Overall, the transition to online learning generated significant social and technical challenges for students with disability—ranging from inadequate socialisation and engagement issues to technological barriers. There were also notable benefits. For some students, this included fewer social pressures, improvements in mental health and the development of personal skills such as resilience. Parent and caregiver participation in the online learning tasks was crucial, often leading to deeper insights into the learning preferences and needs of students with disability and the ability to tailor and customise learning activities. The review identifies a need for inclusive research methods that actively involve students with disability in research on their online learning experiences. Furthermore, the predominant focus on boys with disability and the lack of representation of specific types of disability and support needs suggest that in future larger studies should strive for a more diverse and representative sample of the students with disability. Summary Challenges and benefits reveal much about the disruptive impact the COVID-19 online learning transition exacted on some school-aged students with disability and their families. Greater attention to increasing access to technologies required for online learning is needed. The findings of this review can be applied in the adaptation of existing, or implementation of new learning modalities, accommodations and support for students with disability to promote their inclusion and access to education. Future research should explore a more inclusive approach and identify longer-term impacts of online learning on COVID-19 cohorts of students with disability and identify ways that schools can plan for more effective transition to online learning in the event of a future pandemic or other disaster requiring school closures.

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The association between home learning during COVID‐19 lockdowns and subsequent school attendance among children with neurodevelopmental conditions

Cited by 5 publications

References 12 publications

School absenteeism in autistic children and adolescents: A scoping review

School absenteeism in autistic children and adolescents: A scoping review

Impact of COVID‐19 lockdown in England on challenging behaviour and adaptive skills for children in a special school: A longitudinal study

Lessons From the COVID-19 Unplanned Transition to Online Learning at Home for Students With Disability: Socialisation, Technology, Education and Future Research Opportunities

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