Supporting students with complex needs living in rural and regional New South Wales: is wraparound the answer?

Historically, students attending school in rural and regional New South Wales have experienced poorer outcomes than their peers attending metropolitan schools. The lack of coordinated support services for students with complex support needs compounds this issue. Wraparound models of support have been successful in improving outcomes for students with complex support needs, and the New South Wales government has prioritised the establishment of strong relationships between schools and communities to overcome the limitations of geographic isolation. The aim of the current study was to explore wraparound support for students with complex support needs attending schools in rural and regional New South Wales. A qualitative research approach was employed, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders to gain an in-depth understanding of current successes, barriers, and needs. The findings indicated that wraparound was most effective in rural and remote schools when school staff implemented bespoke approaches to wraparound, such as restorative practices. Resourcing was a barrier found to be central to all schools. Recommendations are provided to enhance the capacity of rural and regional NSW schools to provide wraparound support for students with complex support needs.

The role of mobile technology in promoting social inclusion among adults with intellectual disabilities.

BACKGROUND: Mobile technology has the potential to assist adults with intellectual disabilities to initiate and maintain social connections in important areas of their lives, such as family, friends and work/volunteering. METHOD: The present study investigated how specific aspects of mobile device/app use are associated with the social inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities. The study also examined what background attributes were associated with particular patterns of mobile device/app use and social inclusion. RESULTS: The findings revealed that the use of mobile technology among adults with intellectual disabilities was positively associated with their social inclusion with family, friends and work/volunteering. There were also some key background attributes associated with participants' use of mobile technology and the extent to which mobile technology assisted their social inclusion. CONCLUSIONS: Implications for practice and policy are discussed.

Building an inclusive research team: the importance of team building and skills training.

BACKGROUND: Inclusive research teams typically describe their experiences and analyse the type of involvement of researchers with disability, but the process of building research teams and the need for research training still remain underexplored in the literature. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Four researchers with intellectual disabilities and four academic researchers developed an inclusive research team. The team conducted 15 research training sessions, focused on investigating the well-being of older women with intellectual disabilities. They used mobile technology to support research skills acquisition. RESULTS: Findings included the experiences of all team members regarding the team building during training. CONCLUSIONS: To become an effective inclusive research team, all team members, regardless of ability, need to bring their own experiences and also learn necessary research skills. This paper highlights the need for team building, joint research training among all members of the research team and strategies supporting the peer-mentoring within the team. We are a team of four researchers with intellectual disabilities and four academic researchers without an intellectual disability. Our aim has been to learn about research together. We want to do this so that we can carry out a research project together about how older women with intellectual disabilities live. We have decided to call our team 'Welcome to our Class'. We have been working together for 9 months. In this time we have had 15 research training meetings. We have learned What research is How to work out a research question, that is what we want to find out about How to get information on what we want to find out. Here we thought of interview questions we could ask older women with intellectual disabilities. We are now meeting once a month, and have just begun our research on finding out how older women with intellectual disabilities live. We are now starting to use what we have learned.

Exploring Web-Based Information and Resources That Support Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer to Resume Study and Work: Environmental Scan Study.

BACKGROUND: Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) diagnosed with cancer experience physical, cognitive, and psychosocial effects from cancer treatment that can negatively affect their ability to remain engaged in education or work through cancer treatment and in the long term. Disengagement from education or work can have lasting implications for AYAs' financial independence, psychosocial well-being, and quality of life. Australian AYAs with cancer lack access to adequate specialist support for their education and work needs and report a preference for web-based support that they can access from anywhere, in their own time. However, it remains unclear what web-based resources exist that are tailored to support AYAs with cancer in reaching their educational or work goals. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine what web-based resources exist for Australian AYAs with cancer to (1) support return to education or work and (2) identify the degree to which existing resources are age-specific, cancer-specific, culturally inclusive, and evidence-based; are co-designed with AYAs; use age-appropriate language; and are easy to find. METHODS: We conducted an environmental scan by searching Google with English search terms in August 2022 to identify information resources about employment and education for AYAs ever diagnosed with cancer. Data extraction was conducted in Microsoft Excel, and the following were assessed: understandability and actionability (using the Patient Education and Materials Tool), readability (using the Sydney Health Literacy Laboratory Health Literacy Editor), and whether the resource was easy to locate, evidence-based, co-designed with AYAs, and culturally inclusive of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The latter was assessed using 7 criteria previously developed by members of the research team. RESULTS: We identified 24 web-based resources, comprising 22 written text resources and 12 video resources. Most resources (21/24, 88%) were published by nongovernmental organizations in Australia, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. A total of 7 resources focused on education, 8 focused on work, and 9 focused on both education and work. The evaluation of resources demonstrated poor understandability and actionability. Resources were rarely evidence-based or co-designed by AYAs, difficult to locate on the internet, and largely not inclusive of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations. CONCLUSIONS: Although web-based resources for AYAs with cancer are often available through the websites of hospitals or nongovernmental organizations, this environmental scan suggests they would benefit from more evidence-based and actionable resources that are available in multiple formats (eg, text and audio-visual) and tailored to be age-appropriate and culturally inclusive.

Accurately Assessing Teacher ADHD-Specific Attitudes Using the Scale for ADHD-Specific Attitudes.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is therefore twofold, first to accurately examine the ADHD-specific attitudes of New South Wales Government school in-service teachers using the Scale for ADHD-Specific Attitudes (Authors 2016), and second, to determine if any of their socio-demographic features could predict their attitudes. METHOD: Exploratory factor analysis found a 5-factor structure, and multiple regression analysis was performed to establish the existence of groups of variables with respect to teacher attitudes towards ADHD-type behaviours and any demographic predictors of teacher attitudes. RESULTS: The final regression model found significant predictors of each factor with R2 values ranging from .007 to .147. CONCLUSION: This study illustrated that teachers had generally positive attitudes towards students who display ADHD-type behaviours, however, they found the externalised behaviours of ADHD irritating in the classroom and found teaching students with ADHD-type behaviours difficult, and teachers want more information about ADHD and how to manage it in the classroom.

Is it really student-focused planning? Perspectives of students with autism.

BACKGROUND: Student-focused planning has emerged as a primary indicator of post-school success. However, without mandated policies or procedures in place for transition planning in Australia, students with autism will continue to be minimally engaged or completely disengaged from the transition planning process in schools. This is likely to significantly impact post-school outcomes for these students. While previous studies have investigated the extent of student involvement in their IEP transition planning meetings, none of these studies considered the views of students with autism, despite research suggesting that children are experts of their own experiences and their own lives. AIM: The aim of the current study was to determine how involved students with autism were in the transition planning process. METHOD AND PROCEDURES: Interviews were conducted with 18 students with autism aged 15-18 years. Interviews were analysed using inductive content analysis. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: The results revealed that students lacked knowledge of the transition planning process, however many students expressed the desire to be significantly involved in the process. The majority of students reported that they only contributed minimally during meetings. Numerous students reported being unaware of existing transition practices (i.e., work experience opportunities) that were in place for them. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: There is an urgent need for transition planning to be mandated in Australia to allow students with disabilities to receive appropriate support in school (i.e., schools and teachers should actively advocate person-centered planning and support students to develop self-determination skills).

Picture my well-being: Listening to the voices of students with autism spectrum disorder.

BACKGROUND: Student well-being, though widely researched, continues to be a poorly defined concept. Few student well-being studies focus on students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who may have a poorer sense of well-being compared to typically developing students. AIMS: The current study aims to explore the conceptualisation, barriers, and ways to enhance the well-being of students with ASD from their perspectives. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Photovoice, a participatory research method was used to elicit the views of 16 high school students with ASD to explore the concept of well-being. Data analysis was conducted using a grounded theory approach. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Students conceptualised well-being as multidimensional, identified sensory barriers, social barriers, and barriers that were associated with learning, and several external and internal assets that could support their well-being. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: To promote well-being, barriers should be mitigated, while external and internal assets developed. Researchers should also consider the use of Photovoice to enable students' meaningful participation in research studies.

A systematic review of the involvement of students with autism spectrum disorder in the transition planning process: Need for voice and empowerment.

BACKGROUND: Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) typically struggle with post-school employment, post-secondary education, and independent living outcomes. This may be due to their limited input on the goals that are set for their future during the transition planning process. AIM: The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the extent of involvement of students in their IEP transition planning meetings in published research on the topic to date. METHOD AND PROCEDURES: The authors reviewed articles published between 1994 and 2016. Searches were performed in ERIC, ProQuest Education Journals, PsycINFO, and Scopus databases, resulting in 15 articles meeting the inclusion criteria. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Out of the 15 articles included in this review, five were survey research articles and ten were intervention studies. The overall results of the studies revealed that students with ASD had minimal active involvement in the transition planning process. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: It is essential for teachers to educate students about the transition planning process to increase their awareness of the purposes and procedures of the transition planning meeting. There is a pressing need for a more student-centred approach in transition planning to empower students and support them in becoming better self-advocates.

Employing mobile technology to improve language skills of young students with language-based disabilities.

This exploratory study investigated the effects of a language building iPad application on the language skills (i.e., receptive vocabulary, expressive vocabulary, and sentence formation) of young students with language-based disabilities. The study utilized a pre-test-post-test control group design. Students in the treatment group used the iPad language building application, Language Builder, for 30 minutes a day. Participants were 31 first-grade to third-grade students with identified language-based disabilities. Students were assigned to two groups for the 8-week intervention. Data indicated that students in the treatment group made significantly greater gains in the area of sentence formation than the control group. Results revealed no significant difference between the two groups in the areas of expressive and receptive vocabulary. A short intervention of using Language Builder via the iPad may increase the sentence formation skills of young students with language delays. Additionally, discussion regarding the usefulness of iPad applications in education is presented.