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Parents of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in the UK ( n  = 241) were asked to describe the impact of COVID-19 on their own mental health and that of their child. An inductive content analysis of the data was undertaken. Both parents and children appear to be experiencing loss, worry and changes in mood and behaviour as a result of the rapid social changes that have occurred. Some parents reported feeling overwhelmed and described the impact of child understanding and awareness. Finally, a minority of parents reported that COVID-19 has had little impact on mental health in their family, or has even led to improvements. Implications for how to support these families in the immediate future are discussed.

COVID-19 has affected people across the world. The current study examined anxiety and worries during the first UK national lockdown in March 2020. Parents (n = 402) reported on their own anxiety and worries as well as that of their son/daughter with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and typically developing (TD) child (n = 186) at three time points. Although both groups showed increased anxiety across the three time points, levels of anxiety in the SEND group, but not the TD siblings, were predicted by awareness about COVID-19. In addition, worries differed between the groups showing that COVID-19 impacts the wellbeing of those with SEND differently to that of their TD siblings.

This study examined predictors of access to early support amongst families of 0-6-year-old children with suspected or diagnosed developmental disabilities in the United Kingdom. Using survey data from 673 families, multiple regression models were fitted for three outcomes: intervention access, access to early support sources, and unmet need for early support sources. Developmental disability diagnosis and caregiver educational level were associated with intervention access and early support access. Early support access was also associated with child physical health, adaptive skills, caregiver ethnicity, informal support, and statutory statement of special educational needs. Unmet need for early support was associated with economic deprivation, the number of household caregivers, and informal support. Multiple factors influence access to early support. Key implications include enhancing processes for formal identification of need, addressing socioeconomic disparities (e.g., reducing inequalities, increasing funding for services), and providing more accessible services (e.g., coordinating support across services, flexible service provision).

Preventing and Responding to Challenging Behavior Addressing challenging behavior is a daily concern for early childhood educators. It’s estimated that roughly 10 to 14 percent of children from birth to 5 years old demonstrate serious behavioral concerns, resulting in significant impacts to their learning and social interactions. Children engage in challenging behavior for many different reasons; preventing and responding to that behavior begins with understanding why it occurs. This book curates and organizes articles from Young Children and Teaching Young Children that * Help teachers build trust and connections with children * Highlight evidence-based positive behavior intervention and support strategies * Aim to prevent suspension, expulsion, and other punitive discipline * Support teachers and families in implementing effective teaching strategies for social and emotional skills children can use instead of challenging behavior * Show how to adapt practices to consider the cultures and contexts of children  Each article in this collection is accompanied by questions to prompt deeper thinking on the content. With this resource, fully see and hear children as you honor and support their well-being, as well as your own.

Moral Laboratoriesis an engaging ethnography and a groundbreaking foray into the anthropology of morality. It takes us on a journey into the lives of African American families caring for children with serious chronic medical conditions, and it foregrounds the uncertainty that affects their struggles for a good life. Challenging depictions of moral transformation as possible only in moments of breakdown or in radical breaches from the ordinary, it offers a compelling portrait of the transformative powers embedded in day-to-day existence. From soccer fields to dinner tables, the everyday emerges as a moral laboratory for reshaping moral life. Cheryl Mattingly offers vivid and heart-wrenching stories to elaborate a first-person ethical framework, forcefully showing the limits of third-person renderings of morality.

ObjectivesAlthough parental burnout can have detrimental consequences to families, the investigation of the syndrome is still in its infancy. The present study investigated what are the key family background variables that contribute to parental burnout among Finnish parents. Moreover, we investigated how self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism uniquely and interactively relate to parental burnout over and above the impacts of background variables.MethodsQuestionnaire-based data was collected from 1725 parents (91% mothers) and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM).ResultsThe results showed that when several family- and child-related background variables were taken into account, parent’s age, unemployment, perceived poor financial situation of the family, and having a child with special needs, showed unique associations with burning out as a parent. Even more crucial risk factor for burning out was, however, socially prescribed perfectionism: the higher the level of socially prescribed perfectionism the parents reported, the higher the level of their parental burnout. The relationship between socially prescribed perfectionism and parental burnout was further strengthened when parents reported also a high level of self-oriented perfectionism. Finally, the relationship between gender and parental burnout was mediated via perfectionism: mothers reported more socially prescribed and self-oriented perfectionism than fathers and, consequently, were also more burned out as parents.ConclusionsThe results suggest that in Finland specific attention should be given to families with poor financial resources and unemployment. Moreover, high social expectations experienced by the mothers could be balanced, for example, by teaching them skills of self-acceptance and compassion.

The current study, based on a survey of 1799 parents, explored parental perspectives of school absence in relation to approved grades, challenges, demands and obstacles in education for children with autism spectrum disorder. The results revealed a relatively high rate of school absenteeism for reasons other than illness. Girls had higher rates of absenteeism than boys for short durations of absence. Absenteeism was primarily caused by a lack of teacher competence regarding autism and inadequate adaptation of teaching. There were no significant differences between genders in approved grades, but the rate of failure to achieve approved grades was approximately 50%. The most common form of educational support was support from special needs teachers and adapted pedagogy.

Given the importance of schools as socializing institutions, a key dimension of children’s subjective well-being (SWB) is their perception of school-related aspects. This study complements previous literature on various determinants of children’s SWB by focusing on students with special educational needs (SEN). Due to academic challenges, stigmatization, and exclusion, they are at risk of experiencing reduced SWB. With the implementation of inclusive education around the globe, students with SEN are more frequently enrolled in regular schools, and a question arises regarding how students with SEN assess their school-related SWB in inclusive settings. Drawing on longitudinal data from the National Educational Panel Study in Germany (NEPS) we systematically investigate the effect of the SEN status on various facets of school-related SWB measured in Grade 4 of primary school. Applying a propensity score matching approach, we contrast children with SEN status to children without SEN status who are comparable in a rich set of observed confounding variables. We find that at the end of primary school, students with SEN report being less satisfied with life in general , being less satisfied with school and their friends than their comparable counterpart without SEN. Moreover, they experience more tiredness and feelings of loneliness , and show lower levels of learning enjoyment and task mastering . The potential mechanisms leading to lower school-related SWB are discussed.

Although extracurricular music activities are common in Hong Kong, private music teachers’ perceptions of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are underexplored in research in this context. This study examined private music teachers’ knowledge of ASD and their attitudes toward students with ASD in Hong Kong, and the relationship between these two factors. The study collected data from a questionnaire survey ( n  = 200) and eleven individual interviews. Unexpectedly, the findings showed that the teachers had a good understanding and a marginally positive perception of ASD, despite some anxiety about teaching students with ASD. Furthermore, knowledge of and attitude toward ASD were positively correlated. Teachers with previous training in special education needs had a better understanding of ASD and a more positive attitude toward ASD than those without related training. These results imply that further formal and public education could promote acceptance of and equal learning opportunities for students with ASD.