From the author’s work as an educational psychologist in a Scottish local authority and her initial literature review, concerns were raised by her colleagues and local education authority about delaying school entry of children with additional support needs. This study aimed to: explore how the decision making process for delaying school entry operated; develop and trial a methodology to capture the children’s perspective and explore the experiences of the children and their families in nursery and during their first year of school. A qualitative case study approach was used to explore the decision making process for six children and their families and the experiences of five children and their families. Techniques from the mosaic methodology (Clark and Moss, 2001) were adapted to capture the children’s voices. The study revealed that participants held different models of school readiness, in line with other international research, and this influenced their decision to retain. Participants reported a range of positive and negative outcomes of delayed school entry and identified factors that had been supportive in managing the children’s transitions. Children’s perspectives were captured and often offered a unique insight into the children’s views. At the end of the children’s first year in primary school four parents were still happy with their decision to delay school entry but one parent regretted her decision. In conclusion it is suggested that a more interactionist (Meisels, 1998) approach to school readiness should be taken when supporting the transition from nursery to school. A moderated system should be developed to support the decision making process for delaying school entry, with an inbuilt process to follow up longer-term outcomes for the children and families concerned. The methodology developed for gathering children’s views offered a way for children with additional support needs to express their own views and take an active role at this important transition point. There is potential to develop this methodology further to ensure that children’s voices are heard in this first universal educational transition.

Föreliggande kvalitativa studie visade professionellas beskrivning av hur barnets röst framförs vid nätverksmöten. Studien beskrev även vad som påverkar och vem som bedömer barnets deltagande på ett nätverksmöte. Tio terapeuter vid barn- och ungdomspsykiatrin i sydöstra Sverige intervjuades med hjälp av en semistrukturerad frågeguide. En slutsats är att nätverksmöten så gott som alltid kan anpassas så att barnet kan närvara. Resultatet innehåller därmed inte bara beskrivningar av metoder och tekniker, som kan hjälpa barn att höras, utan också reflektioner kring mötets utformande, för att överhuvudtaget möjliggöra barnfokus. I undersökningen framkom det känslomässiga klimatets betydelse för att barnets röst ska framföras och bli hörd. En annan slutsats är att barnet inte bör närvara i alla möten. Det framkom viss osäkerhet om vem som har det yttersta ansvaret i bedömningen av barnets delaktighet. / The present qualitative study showed descriptions from professionals, how the voice of the child was carried forward during network meetings. The study also described what is influencing and who is judging the child’s participation in a network meeting. Ten therapists at the child- and youth psychiatry department in south-east Sweden were interviewed by means of a semi-structured question guide. One conclusion is that network meetings almost always may be adapted in a way that the child is able to attend. Hence, the result does not only include descriptions of methods and techniques which may assist in listening to the child, but also reflections around the structure of the meeting, in order to, on the whole enabling a child focus. In the investigation an emotional climate appeared to be important in order for the voice of the child to be carried forward and to be understood. Another conclusion was that the child should not attend in all meetings. There appeared some uncertainty about who has the ultimate responsibility in the judgement of the participation of the child.

No description available.

The majority of children with ASC are educated within a mainstream secondary setting. The challenges within the new environment may lead to some children experiencing a breakdown in provision resulting in temporary or permanent exclusions. A gap in the literature highlights a need for research which seeks to understand the views and experiences of year 7 children with ASCs about theirtransition to mainstream secondary school. The research involved four year 7 children with ASC, from across three settings, who had recently transitioned from a mainstream primary school to a mainstream secondary school (without resource based provision). The views of their parents and teachers were also sought. A multiple-embedded case study design was employed involving four cases from across three school settings. This involved utilising a transition Q-sort and a semi-structured interview with four children and semi-structured interviews with six parents and three teachers. The data was analysed using content analysis and thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The findings highlight a need for individualised transition planning for the child with ASC; consideration of co-occurring difficulties and the importance of including the views of the child and parents in transition planning. The findings are discussed in relation to psychological theories and existing literature. The implications for future research, local authority policy, school staff, parents and educational psychologists are considered.