Addressing the educational needs of children with Williams Syndrome: a rather neglected area of research?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Addressing the educational needs of children with Williams Syndrome: a rather neglected area of research?

AU - Palikara, Olympia

AU - Ashworth, Maria

AU - Van Herwegen, Jo

PY - 2018/4/13

Y1 - 2018/4/13

N2 - Williams Syndrome (WS) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder associated with physical health problems, unique cognitive profile of strengths and impairments, and increased risk of mental health difficulties. This profile of complex needs and relative strengths likely requires educational support and interventions tailored to WS. Surprisingly, in the current international move for inclusion, limited research exists on the type of educational provision and academic achievements children with WS obtain, including any literature on their voices and the perspectives of key stakeholders. This letter calls for additional research on the risk and protective factors associated with the educational outcomes of these children, the perspectives of the children themselves, and the development of the evidence-base about the effectiveness of education intervention programs. © 2018 The Authors. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

AB - Williams Syndrome (WS) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder associated with physical health problems, unique cognitive profile of strengths and impairments, and increased risk of mental health difficulties. This profile of complex needs and relative strengths likely requires educational support and interventions tailored to WS. Surprisingly, in the current international move for inclusion, limited research exists on the type of educational provision and academic achievements children with WS obtain, including any literature on their voices and the perspectives of key stakeholders. This letter calls for additional research on the risk and protective factors associated with the educational outcomes of these children, the perspectives of the children themselves, and the development of the evidence-base about the effectiveness of education intervention programs. © 2018 The Authors. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

U2 - 10.1007/s10803-018-3578-x

DO - 10.1007/s10803-018-3578-x

M3 - Article

SN - 0162-3257

JO - JOURNAL OF AUTISM AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS

JF - JOURNAL OF AUTISM AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS

ER -