Optimal child-led goal setting practices for school-aged children with a disability or delay: an international Delphi...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Allied Health
• Disability Studies
• Child Development

Background:

• Child-led goal setting is crucial for children with disabilities or developmental delays.
• Optimal practices for goal setting and evaluation require expert consensus.
• Current practices may not fully support active child participation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To achieve expert consensus on best practices for child-led goal setting and evaluation.
• To identify key factors in planning, process, and support for these practices.
• To inform allied health professionals on effective strategies for engaging children.

Main Methods:

• A three-round eDelphi consensus study.
• Involved 60 allied health professionals from diverse disciplines and countries.
• Utilized a 7-point Likert scale to rate agreement on 323 unique items.

Main Results:

• 159 items (50%) reached expert consensus.
• Strong agreement on process steps and support strategies to engage children.
• Recommendations include tailoring processes, providing ability-specific resources, and empowering child perspectives.

Conclusions:

• Experts confirm children with disabilities can be actively involved in goal setting and evaluation.
• Future research should prioritize developing tools and technologies for child-led goal setting.
• Personalized, empowering approaches are vital for effective child participation.