Background Evidence-based information and communication technology (ICT) interventions to enhance school participation among students with special educational needs (SEN) are required. Aim To evaluate the impact of an ICT intervention on school participation among upper secondary school students with special educational needs. Materials and methods Data on 300 students assessments with the School Setting Interview (SSI), grades and school attendance were used in this quasi-experimental study, with a one-group pretest-posttest design. Descriptive and inferential statistics and effect size were used, as well as Rasch analysis to generate interval data on the students ordinal SSI ratings. Results In the ICT intervention (median time eight hours), 54% of the students received a tablet, and software concerned with planning and structure was received by 85%. After the ICT intervention, a significant decrease in perceived need for adjustments in school activities was found on a group level and 30% of the students improved their school attendance. Students who benefitted the most from the ICT intervention had few adjustment needs in school activities and no special educational support at baseline. Conclusion An ICT intervention is promising for improving school participation among upper secondary school students with SEN.

Background: The aim is to explore and describe access to the internet and how it is used among adolescents and young adults with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities in their everyday settings. Method: Data were collected through observations of and interviews with 15 participants with intellectual disabilities, aged 13-25, on access and use of the internet in school or work and at home or in their free time. A qualitative content analysis was used. Results: Main findings were categorised into: Access to the internet in different settings, Challenges when using the internet and Strategies to handle the digital environment and take part in internet activities.Conclusions: This study revealed that participants had access to internet connections and to a high number of internet-enabled devices. Participants use the internet through strategies when doing internet activities, for example using pictures and reducing the number of internet-enabled devices used in their everyday settings.

Internet use is an integrated part of everyday life, especially among young people. However, knowledge of this for young people with disabilities is scarce. This study investigates digital participation of adolescents with intellectual disabilities by comparing aspects of Internet use among adolescents with and without intellectual disabilities. Cross-sectional comparative design was used and a national survey from the Swedish Media Council was cognitively adapted for adolescents with intellectual disabilities aged 13-20 years. The results reveal that a significantly lower proportion of the 114 participating adolescents with intellectual disabilities had access to Internet-enabled devices and performed Internet activities, except for playing games, than the reference group (n = 1161). The greatest difference was found in searching for information. Analyses indicate that adolescents with intellectual disabilities are following a similar pattern of Internet use as the reference group, but a digital lag is prevalent, and a more cognitively accessible web could be beneficial.

The aim of this study was to investigate student-environment fit and perceived need of adjustments for students in the regular upper secondary school, with and without a diagnosis. The students (n = 419) were interviewed with the assessment School Setting Interview. The results showed that for seven of the 16 items, 60% or more of the students experienced that the demands of the school environment were not consistent with their abilities. Girls had a greater need of adjustments in eight of nine SSI school activities. The findings put an emphasis on the importance of recognizing the students individuals need of adjustments, and on offering flexible support in order to enhance the student-environment-fit and well-being of students in need of special educational support.

Background: In contemporary society internet and digital competencies are used to perform activities.

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate opportunities and risks of internet use as perceived by the parents of adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID) in comparison with a national reference group of parents of adolescents.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with group comparisons using a national survey. Analyses were carried out using Fisher's exact test and logistic regression to control for confounding factors.

Results: A significantly higher proportion of parents of adolescents with ID perceive opportunities associated with internet use and playing games, and a lower proportion perceive risks with negative consequences, compared with the reference group. Significantly more parents of adolescents with ID perceive their adolescent never use smartphones and social media compared with the reference group. Fewer parents of adolescents with ID have concerns about online risks for their adolescents compared with the reference group.

Conclusion and Significance: The results provide new knowledge for occupational therapists to support positive risk-taking in internet-use for adolescents with ID, in collaboration with their parents, to enable the development of digital competencies and digital participation in everyday life in a digitalised society.

The aim of this study was twofold: (1) to identify factors associated with a high level of accommodation needs in school activities among students with special educational needs (SEN) in regular upper secondary education; and (2) to investigate the extent to which schools have met students’ perceived accommodation needs. Accommodation needs and their provision in school activities were assessed with the School Setting Interview for 484 students with SEN. Students’ mean age was 17.3 years and 50% did not have a diagnosis. A logistic regression analysis revealed that a high level of school absence, studying a vocational programme, and a neuropsychiatric disorder were associated with a high level of accommodation needs. In the majority of school activities, about 50% of students had not received any accommodation despite an experienced need for support. About 30% of students perceived a need for support even though they had been provided with accommodations, and around 25% stated they were satisfied with received accommodations. Regular upper secondary school students with SEN are insufficiently provided with accommodations to satisfactorily participate in education. Specific student characteristics, e.g. high level of school absence, should receive special attention when investigating and accommodating students’ needs for support in school activities.

Objective: Activities occur in all people’s lives. This study investigated over a period of time, 15 years, what activities were enjoyed or not enjoyed and what activities parents and staff liked to do with girls/women with Rett syndrome.

Method: A descriptive study was conducted using secondary data from three earlier questionnaires at the Swedish National Rett Center. The first questionnaire provided data on 123 girls/women with Rett syndrome, the second on 52 and the third questionnaire, on 39. Informants were parents and/or staff, in total 365. Open-ended questions were analysed using a content analysis approach.

Results: Three categories appeared: Being in motion, receiving impressions and having contact. Bathing/swimming, listening to music and being outdoors/walking were the most enjoyed activities over the years. Of the few activities that were reported as being unenjoyable, most were daily care activities. The activities that the parents/staff enjoyed doing with the girls/women were similar to those the girls/women themselves liked to do.

Conclusion: A preliminary overview for both liked and disliked activities of girls/women with Rett syndrome was presented. This knowledge could facilitate the choice and use of activities.

Background: Children with acquired brain injury (ABI) often present with functional deficits that influence their societal participation and well-being. Successful reintegration into school calls for individual support to meet each child’s adjustment needs. The adjustment needs of children with ABI in school settings have not previously been explored.

Aim: The objectives of the present study were (a) to describe adjustment needs in school settings for children with ABI and (b) to explore differences and similarities between reports from the children and their teachers.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 20 children with ABI (mean age 12.8 ± 3.4 years; class grade 1–10) and their teachers were interviewed individually, using the School Setting Interview (SSI). Data were analyzed with descriptive and with non-parametric statistics.

Results: (a) In the overall group, children rated that 55.6% of the 16 activities in the SSI needed no adjustment. The corresponding percentage for teachers was 48.4%. (b) In the child-teacher pairs, there was a positive relationship between teachers’ and children’s responses only in 3 out of 16 school activities and agreement varied strongly according to the activity in question.

Conclusions and significance: It is important for occupational therapists and other professionals to specifically consider adjustment needs relating to school activities from various perspectives when aiming to provide individualized interventions.

Objective: Adolescents’ leisure activities are increasingly focusing on Internet activities, and today, these coexist with traditional leisure activities such as sport and meeting friends. The purpose of the present study was to investigate leisure activities, particularly Internet activities, among boys and girls with ADHD, and compare these with boys and girls from the general population. The objective was also to explore how traditional leisure activities and Internet activities interrelate among adolescents with ADHD. 

Method: Adolescents with ADHD (n = 102) were compared with adolescents from the general population on leisure activities and Internet use. 

Results: Leisure activities among adolescents with ADHD tended to focus on Internet activities, particularly online games. Internet activities were broadening leisure activities among adolescents with ADHD, rather than being a substitute for traditional leisure activities. 

Conclusion: Internet activities may provide adolescents with ADHD accessible means of social interaction.