Treatment Inequalities: How School Configuration Shapes Interventions for Children Diagnosed with Autism

• In Event: 158 - Section on Disability and Society Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 04.

Abstract

While much evidence indicates that partnerships between parents and teachers impact children’s outcomes (Epstein 2011; Henderson, Mapp, Johnson and Davies 2007; Bryk et al 2011; Marzano 2003; Sheldon 2003), recent studies have further demonstrated that when families share specific learning goals with teachers, their children’s academic and behavioral skills improve (MDRC, 2013). We can link these new findings to past research that indicates that variation in alignment between home and school across social class shapes inequality (Lareau 1989, 2003). However, we know very little about the organizational mechanisms that drive the emergence and sustainability of shared learning activities between parents and teachers across home and school settings. This study investigates shared interventions across home and school settings for a particular subset: children diagnosed with autism. Most children with autism spectrum disorders receive intensive educational interventions as their primary form of treatment. These treatments often require collaboration among intervention providers and between providers and parents, because children diagnosed with autism have difficulty transferring skills learned in one setting to another. For this study, two school configurations were identified: 1) a “school-within-a-school” model and 2) a maximum inclusion model. Intervention network maps for low income children had fewer interventions rated at established or emergent efficacy for autism, with lower levels of alignment in the “school-within-a-school”, compared with the maximum inclusion model. Preliminary findings indicate that school design may shape alignment of individual interventions for children diagnosed with ASD.

Author

• Elizabeth McGhee Hassrick, Weill Cornell Medical College