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

Background: Children with neurodevelopmental conditions have high levels of schoolabsence. During the COVID-19 pandemic, schools closed for many students. Therelationship between home learning during school closures and subsequent schoolattendance requires attention to better understand the impact of pandemic educationpolicy decisions on this population. This study aims to investigate the associationbetween home learning, hybrid learning and school learning during school closures(in January–March 2021) with subsequent school attendance (in May 2021) in childrenwith neurodevelopmental conditions.Methods: An online survey was completed by 809 parents/carers of 5- to 15-yearoldautistic children and/or children with intellectual disability. Regression modelsexamined the association of learning location during school closures with subsequentschool absence (i.e., total days missed, persistent absence and school refusal).Results: Children who were learning from home during school closures later missed4.6 days of a possible 19. Children in hybrid and school learning missed 2.4 and 1.6school days, respectively. The rates of school absence and persistent absence weresignificantly higher in the home learning group even after adjusting for confounders.Learning location was not associated with subsequent school refusal.Conclusions: Policies for school closures and learning from home during public healthemergencies may exacerbate school attendance problems in this group of vulnerablechildren.Pathways through Adolescenc

Elective home education of children with neurodevelopmental conditions before and after the COVID-19 pandemic started

COVID-19 brought disruptions to children’s education and mental health, and accelerated school de-registration rates. We investigated Elective Home Education (EHE) in families of children with a neurodevelopmental condition. A total of 158 parents of 5–15 year-old children with neurodevelopmental conditions (80% autistic) provided information on reasons for de-registration, their experience of EHE, and children’s mental health. Few differences were found between children participating in EHE before and after the pandemic started. Low satisfaction with school for not meeting children’s additional needs was the main reason for deregistering in both groups. COVID-19 had a more limited role in parents’ decision to de-register. The main advantage of EHE reported in both groups was the provision of personalised education and one-to-one support. Levels of anxiety, internalising and externalising problems were similar between children participating in EHE before and after the pandemic started, and also similar between all children in EHE and school-registered children (N = 1,079).Pathways through Adolescenc

Visitor satisfaction analysis as a tool for park managers: a review and case study

Visitor satisfaction has been an important area for leisure research since the 1960s and more recently for park management. A number of approaches have been adapted from consumer research including importance-performance analyses, gap analyses, threshold performance targets and overall satisfaction. This paper reviews these approaches with respect to park management. It then draws on focus group research with protected area agency staff to obtain their views on the usefulness and robustness of the analyses associated with these approaches. Yanchep National Park (Western Australia) was used as a case study, with the results from a recent visitor survey providing the data for satisfaction analyses. To provide a more accurate summary of the range in results, confidence intervals accompanied the results to illustrate the variation in responses. The analyses emphasize the importance for park managers of accessible, usable data on visitor satisfaction

Types and correlates of school absenteeism among students with intellectual disability

Background. It appears that students with intellectual disability (ID) are more frequently absent from schoolcompared with students without ID. The objective of the current study was to estimate the frequency ofabsence among students with ID and the reasons for absence. Potential reasons included the attendanceproblems referred to as school refusal, where absence is related to emotional distress; truancy, whereabsence is concealed from parents; school exclusion, where absence is instigated by the school; and school withdrawal, where absence is initiated by parents. Methods. Study participants were 629 parents (84.6% mothers) of Australian school students (Mage = 11.18 years; 1.8% Aboriginal and/or TorresStrait Islander) with an ID. Participants completed a questionnaire battery that included the SchoolNon-Attendance ChecKlist via which parents indicated the reason their child was absent for each day orhalf-day absence their child had over the past 20 school days. The absence data presented to parents had been retrieved from school records. Results. Across all students, absence occurred on 7.9% of the past 20 school days. In terms of school attendance problems as defined in existing literature, school withdrawal accounted for 11.1% of absences and school refusal for 5.3% of absences. Students were also absent for other reasons, most commonly illness (32.0%) and appointments (24.2%). Of students with more than one absence (n = 217; 34.5%), about half were absent for more than one reason. Students attending mainstream schools had lower attendance than those attending special schools. Conclusions Students with ID were absent for a range of reasons and often for multiple reasons. There were elevated rates of school withdrawal and school refusal. Understanding the reasons for absenteeism can inform targeted prevention and intervention supports.</p