COVID-19-Related Facilitators and Barriers to In-Person Learning for Children With Intellectual and Development Disabilities.
Liz E Vestal, Ann M Schmidt, Nikole L Dougherty and 3 others
PMID 36404403WHAT IT FOUND
Parents and school staff said weekly saliva testing helped them feel safer about in-person school for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, though masking, distancing, and hygiene were also in place.
Changing policies, mistrust of testing, and no virtual option were major barriers.
Key findings
01Parents and school staff said weekly saliva testing increased comfort with returning to in-person school; staff particularly felt comforted because many students were not vaccine eligible.
02Testing uptake was limited by mistrust of saliva-based testing, beliefs that testing was unnecessary if vaccinated or asymptomatic, and reluctance linked to research participation.
03Changing and inconsistently enforced policies, confusing quarantine and contact-tracing information, and lack of virtual options were major stressors for families and school staff.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study used a convenience sample from six schools in one district, so the views may not apply to other settings. Only parents and school staff were included; students with IDD were not interviewed, so their own experiences are missing. There was no control group, so perceived benefit of testing cannot be compared with other districts or testing methods. The findings are perceptions and themes, not measured effects on infection, attendance, or therapy outcomes.
Declared interests
No conflict-of-interest statement appears in the supplied text. The work was part of an NIH RADx UP research study.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that weekly testing alone made schools safe or increased in-person attendance. Masking, social distancing, and hand hygiene were also in place, and this study reports parents' and staff's perceptions, not patient outcomes or transmission effects.