With the increase of special schools in UK and around the world, this study seeked to explore in-depth the reality of practitioners working with children with SEND in specialist settings throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilising semi-structured interviews with 11 special school teachers and leaders, this study found that professionals working in…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the start of the academic year in September 2020 was a unique time for those transitioning to a new school. This study aimed to explore the experiences of parents who supported autistic children making a range of different school transitions in 2020. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 13 parents of…

The Rochford Review heralded new arrangements for statutory assessment for children with SLD and PMLD working below the national curriculum standard. New assessment arrangements, the pre-key stage standards and the engagement model, relate to two groups of pupils: pupils 'not yet engaged' and pupils 'engaged' in subject-specific study. This…

Language disorder (LD) is a common childhood condition affecting language development, which can in turn impact children's peer relationships. Although most children with LD are included in mainstream classrooms, there is limited knowledge about the way friendships support or hinder the learning experiences of children with LD in inclusive…

Young people with disabilities (PWD) have increasingly become part of complex and important conversations surrounding their experiences and engagement in physical education (PE) and sport. Despite more young voices being heard, scant attention has been given to why we are listening, who we are listening to, and how we are listening. In this…

This paper examines the perceptions of staff within a university in the UK, of the role of teaching assistants and centrally located disability services. Staff were generally positive about support available although when communication had broken down this led to a lack of trust with centrally organised support. Staff were happy for support staff…

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…

Purpose: For speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working in schools, outcome measurement is an important element of practice, enabling us to evaluate the efficacy of our service provision and guiding future decision making, funding, and resource allocation. When selecting outcomes to measure, it is helpful to consider both the level at which…

A recent study of the destinations of graduates found that of all disabled graduates, autistic individuals are least likely to be employed (AGCAS, 2022). These outcomes for autistic people in the UK are widely recognised in literature (Remington and Pellicano, 2019, Vincent, 2020,) and highlight the way in which these individuals are marginalised.…

This article explores student engagement with tuition at The Open University (a distance learning Higher Education institution in the UK), specifically students with declared mental health disabilities, comparing their access rates with (disabled) students overall, studying in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, 2018-2019. The results show…

Society and education are inherently ableist. Disabled people are routinely excluded from education, or have poorer outcomes within educational systems. Improving educational experiences and outcomes for people of color has required educators to design antiracist curricula that explicitly address racial inequality. Here, we explore parallel…

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…

Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) were introduced in 2014 to improve provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Some service users have found this change positive, but there is also dissatisfaction among service users with the EHCP process. This was captured in the recent Education Select…

There has been controversy around the practice of providing accommodations, with some suggesting that they may give an unfair advantage rather than level the playing field. If that were the case, the assessment results of students with accommodations could be inflated, leading to a detrimental effect on the assessment's validity. This research…

Children with neurodevelopmental diagnoses often experience discrimination from their peers at school. This may result from a lack of understanding, and intolerance of differences in their thinking, communication and social interactions. Learning About Neurodiversity at School (LEANS) is a teaching programme designed to educate primary school…