Abstract
Introduction: Community engagement experiences are a key part of early childhood and are essential for social connections, development, and quality of life. However, children with disabilities do not have the same access to these experiences. Speech Pathologists are ideally placed to target this area, as they support children by building community capacity to increase opportunities for children’s greater social participation.
Method: This presentation will share quantitative results from the Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). The LSAC study used a cross-sequential design of questionnaires sent to families to follow the development and well-being of 10,000 Australian study children. This presentation will focus on wave data from the infant and child cohorts until they turn seven years.
Results: This presentation will report on the relationship between the community engagement of children with and without disabilities during the early years (seven years and under). Initial results from the LSAC data confirm broader international research which suggests that children with disabilities engage less in community activities than children without disabilities, in this case in Australia. These statistics can be broken into activity types, including swimming, gymnastics, team sport, music, dance, and religious groups.
Conclusions: Community activities provide children with opportunities to enhance their development and connect with peers. To best understand these quantitative results, a qualitative exploration of the lived experiences of these children with disabilities and their families is essential. With this understanding, Speech Pathologists will have more knowledge to support children’s community engagement.
Method: This presentation will share quantitative results from the Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). The LSAC study used a cross-sequential design of questionnaires sent to families to follow the development and well-being of 10,000 Australian study children. This presentation will focus on wave data from the infant and child cohorts until they turn seven years.
Results: This presentation will report on the relationship between the community engagement of children with and without disabilities during the early years (seven years and under). Initial results from the LSAC data confirm broader international research which suggests that children with disabilities engage less in community activities than children without disabilities, in this case in Australia. These statistics can be broken into activity types, including swimming, gymnastics, team sport, music, dance, and religious groups.
Conclusions: Community activities provide children with opportunities to enhance their development and connect with peers. To best understand these quantitative results, a qualitative exploration of the lived experiences of these children with disabilities and their families is essential. With this understanding, Speech Pathologists will have more knowledge to support children’s community engagement.
| Original language | English |
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| Publication status | Published - 2023 |
| Event | 32nd World Congress of the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP) 2023: IALP 2023 - The Aotea Centre, Auckland, New Zealand Duration: 20 Aug 2023 → 24 Aug 2023 https://ialpauckland2023.org/ |
Conference
| Conference | 32nd World Congress of the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP) 2023 |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | Together Towards Tomorrow |
| Country/Territory | New Zealand |
| City | Auckland |
| Period | 20/08/23 → 24/08/23 |
| Other | The IALP World Congress occurs every three (3) years – Triennial. It brings together the global community of affiliated societies to one event, hosted by regional national societies/Local Organising Committee. IALP Vision IALP has a global vision to facilitate better understanding, knowledge and care of all those with communication and swallowing disorders. IALP Mission The mission of IALP is to improve the quality of life of individuals with disorders of communication, speech, language, voice, hearing and swallowing. IALP will: i. facilitate science, education, and clinical practice through international cooperation and collaboration; ii. create and share knowledge, skills and information; iii. provide a platform for international networking and advocacy. |
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