Uppeldi og menntun - 01.07.2015, Page 97

UPPELDI OG MENNTUN/ICELANDIC JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 24(2) 2015 97
GUNNHILDUR JAKOBSDÓTTIR, SNÆFRÍÐUR ÞÓRA EGILSON OG K JARTAN ÓLAFSSON
group difference included Social, Cognitive and Physical activity demands as well as
Relations with peers. Effect sizes for environment summary scores were large with the
overall largest group difference found in Environment: support and in Environment:
supportiveness total: (1.14). Twice as many parents of pupils with ASD reported that
resources needed to support their children’s participation within school were not ade-
quate. The only item that did not show significant difference between the two groups
was Personal transportation. A negative correlation was obtained between Desire for
change score and Environmental: supportiveness score.
Conclusions: Parents of pupils with ASD reported that their children participate less
in important school-related activities than did parents of pupils without ASD. Barriers
limiting school participation included features of the social and physical environment
as well as limited resources. The results of this study enable a better understanding of
the school participation of pupils with ASD and the impact of environmental factors
on their participation. The results also highlight those aspects that should be prior-
itized to enable greater participation of pupils with ASD in various school situations.
Keywords: Participation, environment, high functioning children with autism
spectrum disorders, autism, PEM-CY, parent-report
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Gunnhildur Jakobsdottir (gunnhildurj@gmail.com) completed her BS degree in occupa-
tional therapy studies in 2011 and MS degree in the School of Health Sciences at the
University of Akureyri in 2015. She works as an occupational therapist at the Child
and Adolescent Psychiatric Department at the National University Hospital of Ice-
land. Her main research interests include participation and environment of disabled
children and adolescents.
Snaefridur Thora Egilson (sne@hi.is) completed her MS degree in occupational therapy
in 1994 from San Jose State University in California and PhD degree in education from
the University of Iceland in 2005. She is currently a professor at the Faculty of Social
and Human Sciences at the University of Iceland. Her research primarily focuses on
the environment, participation and quality of life of disabled children, as well as on
services to families of disabled children.
Kjartan Olafsson (kjartan@unak.is) obtained an MA in sociology at the University of
Iceland in 2000. He is currently an assistant professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences
at the University of Akureyri and has been a visiting academic at the London School of
Economics and Political Science in London and Masaryk University in Brno. His main
area of research has been in the field of children’s media use.