Participation and ICT: Students with Special Educational Needs in Upper Secondary School

Introduction: The use of information and communication technology (ICT) has been highlighted over the past 20 years as a promising accommodation to improve participation in school activities among students with special educational needs (SEN). However, evidence is still needed. In addition, little attention has been given to students opportunities for participation in school activities, their need for and access to support in school activities among students with SEN in upper secondary education. Aim: The overall aim of this thesis was to increase knowledge about the participation in school activities of students with special educational needs in regular upper secondary education before and after they received an ICT intervention, and subsequently their participation in productive occupations. Methods: This thesis comprises four studies in which secondary data from a sample of students with SEN in upper secondary education that had received an ICT intervention was used. Secondary data of students was retrieved from two intervention projects in which school personnel identified students with SEN based on the following criteria: difficulties in achieving educational goals, or completing school assignments and/or high levels of school absence. The first study included secondary data for 509 students with SEN who had given written informed consent to participate in the research. Of these, about forty percent did not have any educational support at inclusion. Based on the pool of 509 students, study-specific criteria was applied in three successive studies. Study I was a psychometric evaluation of the assessment instrument the School Setting Interview (SSI), which measures the student–environment fit and identifies students’ potential need for support in 16 school activities. Rasch analysis was used to examine the targeting, model fit, functioning of items and response categories, and unidimensionality of the SSI scale. Study II used descriptive statistics to examine the perceived need for, and access to, support in school activities among 484 students. In addition, a logistic regression analysis was applied to identify factors associated with students who perceived a need for support in school activities to the highest extent. In study III, the influence of an individualised ICT intervention on participation in school activities was evaluated among 300 students with SEN. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse students SSI assessments before and after the