Trajectories and transitions in the cognitive and educational development of disabled children and young people

该项目汇集了来自教育研究所（IOE）的学者，来自国家儿童局（NCB）的研究人员，以及NCB残疾儿童委员会（CDC）的活动家和政策导向的实践者，以发展我们对英国残疾儿童认知和教育发展的理解，以便为与残疾儿童有关的政策提供信息。它通过对儿童和年轻人的两项主要研究来做到这一点，这两项研究跟踪了他们从童年早期到青春期的经历。千禧年队列研究追踪了2000-2001年出生的孩子，从他们9个月大的时候开始，在他们还是婴儿的时候对他们的家人进行了调查，并在他们3岁、5岁和7岁的时候再次拜访他们。英国青少年纵向研究首先调查了一组9年级的孩子，当时他们年龄在13-14岁之间，每年都对他们进行回访，直到他们20/21岁。本分析侧重于义务教育结束前后的调查，即14/15岁和16/17岁。这项研究有四个主要目的。首先，从不同的定义和衡量标准，包括被定义为有特殊教育需要（SEN）的儿童，探讨了什么构成儿童残疾的问题。它着眼于不同测量方法之间的重叠，以及被归类为残疾儿童之间的差异有多大。它利用这些信息根据残疾状况对儿童进行分组，这将在研究的其余部分中使用。它还将调查残疾儿童在全国代表性纵向队列研究中得到充分代表的程度。这一要素将增强我们对不同年龄和不同衡量标准的残疾患病率的了解，这对政策提供了信息。它还将揭示现有研究对残疾研究的适用性以及如何加以改进。其次，本研究探讨了残疾儿童的家庭背景，这些儿童在生活在失业家庭、生活贫困等危险因素方面与非残疾儿童有何不同，以及在两项研究内部和研究之间不同年龄的差异。这有助于我们了解残疾儿童在多大程度上更有可能生活在弱势家庭，以及随着他们年龄的增长，这种情况增加（或减少）的程度。这可以帮助确定残疾儿童的情况，从而确定他们可能需要的支助。第三，它着眼于认知能力的发展轨迹，因为残疾儿童和非残疾儿童通常有不同的起点。它调查残疾儿童是否经历了与非残疾儿童相当的发展模式，或者他们的困难是否随着时间的推移而增加，以及考虑到残疾青年群体的不同性质，是否确实存在典型的轨迹。这有助于确定支持和干预残疾儿童的政策和做法在多大程度上促进了他们的发展，或者他们在学年期间是否有落后于起点的风险。最后，考虑到残疾儿童在10年级达到的程度和他们在关键阶段3的表现，它研究了残疾儿童在义务教育结束后与非残疾儿童相比，在多大程度上具有不同的教育成果和继续参与教育的愿望。它着眼于影响他们义务教育后成绩的因素，这些因素可能支持他们更多的参与或更好的义务教育后成绩。该项目将在研究的设计和解释方面以残疾青年自己的观点为依据，并将在政策简报和公开会议以及通过更多的学术途径传播。

This project brings together academics from the Institute of Education (IOE) researchers from the National Children's Bureau (NCB) and campaigners and policy-oriented practitioners from NCB's Council for Disabled Children (CDC) to develop our understanding of disabled children's cognitive and educational development in England in order to inform policy in relation to disabled children. It does this using two major studies of children and young people, which have followed their experience through early childhood and adolescence. The Millennium Cohort Study has traced children born in 2000-2001 since they were nine months old, surveying their families when they were babies and visiting them again when they were aged 3, 5 and 7. The Longitudinal Study of Young People in England first surveyed a cohort of children in year 9, when they are were aged 13-14 and revisited them annually up till the age of 20/21. This analysis focuses on the surveys either side of the end of compulsory schooling, i.e. at age 14/15 and at age 16/17. The research has four main aims. First it engages with the question of what constitutes child disability looking at different definitions and measures, including children defined as having special educational needs (SEN). It looks at the overlap between different measures as well as at how much variation there is between children classified as disabled. It uses this information to group children by disability status, which is used in the rest of the study. It will also investigate the extent to which disabled children are adequantley represented in nationally representative longitudinal cohort studies. This element will enhance our understand the prevalence of disability at different ages, and according to different measures, which is informative for policy. It will also reveal the suitability of existing studies for disability research and how that might be improved. Second, the study explores the family backgrounds of disabled children, how these differ from non-disabled children in terms of risk factors such as living in a workless family, living in poverty and so on, and how this varies at different ages, both within and between the two studies. This helps us to understand the extent to which disabled children are more likely to be in disadvantaged families and the extent to which that increases (or decreases) as they grow older. This can inform identification of the circumstances of disabled children and hence potentially their support needs.Third, it looks at trajectories of cognitive ability, given that disabled children and non-disabled children typically have different starting points. It investigates whether disabled children experience patterns of development that are comparable to those of non-disabled children, or whether their difficulties increase over time, and, indeed whether there are typical trajectories, given the varied nature of the disabled group of young people. This helps to identify the extent to which policy for and practice in support and intervention for disabled children facilitates their development or whether they are at risk of falling behind during the school years relative to how they start off.Finally, it examines the extent to which disabled children have different educational outcomes and aspirations for continued participation in education following the end of compulsory schooling compared to non-disabled children, given the point they have reached by year 10 and their performance at key stage 3. It looks at factors which make a difference to their post-compulsory outcomes and that may be supportive of greater participation or better post-compulsory school outcomes. The project will be informed by the perspectives of disabled young people themselves, both in the design and interpretation of research and will be disseminated in policy briefings and an open meeting as well as through more academic routes.