British Journal of Special Education最新文献

Deafblind children and young people often perform poorly in education and social settings. The extent of this attainment gap is unknown. Following the Joanna Briggs protocol, a scoping review was conducted with the aim of establishing the barriers to and facilitators of academic and social success for this cohort. A database search was conducted seeking peer-reviewed studies relating to deafblind children and young people, in academic and social settings, from any country, published in English, between 1989 and 2022. The review included 38 articles with a range of methodological approaches. The main barriers to success were limited opportunities and options to communicate, a lack of awareness of deafblindness within schools and the wider community, and limited opportunities and adaptations to the curriculum, resources and the environment. The facilitators included improving access to communication and resources, increased awareness, and collaboration between families and professionals. Additional research is needed in this field, particularly to investigate the impact of modern technology to aid access and communication for deafblind children and young people.

This study investigates the levels of social language and vocabulary characteristics of three- to six-year-old children with autism in Vietnam. The research is based on analysis of the developmental assessment reports of 151 children with autism, and 42 parents' reports on their children's vocabulary (recorded using the Child Word Inventory form). The findings show that about 85% of participants have a language level that is below average. The rate of accumulation of words and social language by children with autism is slower than that of typically developing children of the same age. It is also found that the participants' number of production words is 2.4 times greater than their number of reception words. Nonetheless, their receptive words have little correlation with their overall development and social language development. This implies that parents and teachers of children with autism should make a point of assisting them in enlarging and comprehending their vocabulary, to enable them to use their language (words) for effective communication.

The study conducts a systematic review of relevant literature focusing on equipping educators to provide learning support in education. Electronic databases were searched for articles published from January 2012 to December 2022. This review incorporated nine articles that met the inclusion criteria, which indicates the paucity of international literature on equipping educators through learning support. Four levels of review – namely, identification, screening abstracts, eligibility and inclusion – were employed utilising the extracted findings. Extracted data underwent a descriptive meta-synthesis incorporating qualitative description of the findings extracted from the included articles. A narrative analysis was conducted on the emerging themes derived from the findings of the included articles. The findings showed a variety of challenges faced by educators in providing learning support within the educational field, particularly in terms of resources, professional development and training programmes, collaboration and communication. This review contributes to the existing body of literature through its focus on equipping educators through learning support.

Adaptive behaviour is crucial for well-being and independence. The Adaptive Behaviour Assessment System (ABAS-3) is often used to plan individualised support in specialist educational settings, drawing on both teacher and parent informants. In practice, however, little is known about the extent of variation between informants. We examined informant discrepancies in a naturally occurring dataset of 28 ABAS-3 assessments (21 male, seven female), performed by teachers and by parents post-admission at an autism specialist school. We found that in real-life practice, teachers rated the adaptive functioning capabilities of their students significantly more highly than parents across all ABAS-3 domains, a discrepancy significantly greater than validation studies with this instrument, and interestingly, non-uniform across domains. The magnitude of this discrepancy was largest in the Conceptual domain, where differences between informants were greater in older children. The skill area most affected was ‘self-direction’, which includes aspects of executive function. Existing guidance for adaptive functioning assessment in specialist education is extremely limited; while considering potential sources of informant discrepancy, our findings corroborate the need for further guidance on the use and scope of tools like the ABAS-3 in educational settings. While such discrepancies may confound population-level data, individually, these skills may be indicative of greater need to support generalisation across contexts, and may indicate the particular skill areas that are most amenable to intervention.

Individuals with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are currently underrepresented in employment, and supported internships have been promoted to increase the likelihood of young people with SEND gaining paid employment. The SEND Code of Practice and the Preparing for Adulthood agenda emphasise the need to improve future outcomes for young people with SEND. This study explored young people's views on a supported internship programme and perceived facilitators or barriers to preparing for adulthood. A qualitative approach was adopted, analysing semi-structured interviews with eight young people with SEND on one supported internship programme. The findings indicated that the young people positively evaluated the supported internship, appreciating the availability of opportunities and the support provided while on the programme. Perceived barriers included adults not understanding or meeting their needs, perceptions of still being treated like children and the lack of availability of certain opportunities. Findings are discussed with relevance to existing research, and implications for practice and future research are also outlined.

This study examined professionals' perspectives regarding the impact of using Social Stories with the creative arts for individuals on the autism spectrum. These perspectives were investigated using a theoretical framework which integrates Bandura's social learning theory and Gardner's multiple intelligences theory. A mixed-methods sequential design was used, starting with a questionnaire, followed by the use of a series of qualitative methods. The findings revealed that including the creative arts is seen as an active component that supports the use of Social Stories. A variety of views, attitudes and suggestions were expressed, along with some concerns and challenges that were raised in relation to the impact of using Social Stories in conjunction with the creative arts.