Targeting the school environment to enable participation: A scoping review

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Occupational Therapy
• Educational Psychology
• Inclusive Education

Background:

• Children with special educational needs (SEN) often face limited participation in mainstream school settings.
• Both the physical and social school environments significantly influence the participation levels of these children.
• Existing literature details various interventions implemented within school settings to address these challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and describe the key features of interventions designed to enhance the participation of children with SEN in mainstream education.
• To analyze how these interventions target the school environment to support student engagement.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive scoping review was conducted.
• Qualitative thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data.
• The review focused on literature published up to May 2021.

Main Results:

• Twenty articles were included in the review.
• Interventions primarily targeted the social and physical school environments to foster children's participation.
• While most interventions focused on supportive teaching methods for individual children, a smaller number adopted a systemic, holistic approach involving environmental adaptations and interprofessional collaboration (e.g., occupational therapists and teachers).

Conclusions:

• A paradigm shift towards environment-focused strategies, rather than solely child-focused ones, is recommended to promote universal participation.
• Such a shift necessitates changes in classroom setup and redefines teachers' roles.
• The expertise of occupational therapists in aligning school environments with children's needs is crucial for facilitating this transition and supporting inclusive education.