@article{79b731f518c0496a915bdc07b2f83585,
title = "COVID-19-Related Facilitators and Barriers to In-Person Learning for Children With Intellectual and Development Disabilities",
abstract = "BACKGROUND: Schools provide essential functions for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), but their vulnerability to infection with SARS-CoV-2 are a barrier to in-person learning. This qualitative study aimed to understand how weekly SARS-CoV-2 screening testing of students and staff could best facilitate in-school learning during the pandemic. METHODS: Thirty-one focus groups were held with school staff and parents of children with IDD to examine the perceptions of COVID-19 during the 2020-2021 school year. Responses were analyzed using a directed thematic content analysis approach. RESULTS: Five principal themes were identified: risks of returning to in-person learning; facilitators and barriers to participation in SARS-CoV-2 screening testing; messaging strategies; and preferred messengers. IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL HEALTH POLICY, PRACTICE, AND EQUITY: Staff and families agreed that saliva-based SARS-CoV-2 screening testing helps increase comfort with in-person learning. Screening testing increased family and school staff comfort with in-person learning particularly because many students with special needs cannot adhere to public health guidelines. CONCLUSION: To keep children with IDD in school during the pandemic, families found SARS-CoV-2 screening testing important, particularly for students that cannot adhere to mitigation guidelines.",
keywords = "COVID-19, COVID-19 school testing, SARS-CoV-2 testing, children with IDD, intellectual and developmental disabilities",
author = "{for the COMPASS-T Study Group} and Vestal, {Liz E.} and Schmidt, {Ann M.} and Dougherty, {Nikole L.} and Sherby, {Michael R.} and Newland, {Jason G.} and Mueller, {Nancy B.}",
note = "Funding Information: The authors thank the Genome Technology Access Center at the McDonnell Genome Institute of the Washington University School of Medicine for running the SARS‐CoV‐2 saliva testing, as well as the Department of Pathology and Immunology for access to their CAP/CLIA laboratory and their expertise in development of the saliva SARS‐CoV‐2 test. This work is supported by the National Institutes of Health through the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics—Underserved Populations (RADx‐UP) Program (P50HD103525‐01S1). This study is registered at http://clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT04565509. The authors would like to thank the following members from the Brown School Evaluation Center who contributed to the data collection and analysis activities: Courtney Cantwell, Heather Jacobsen, Missy Krauss, Emily Kryzer, Emily Laurent, D{\`e}j{\'a} Miles, Lexie Walsh, and Jacob Nason. The COMPASS‐T project is a joint partnership between the Washington University in St. Louis Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (WUIDDRC), the University of Missouri‐Kansas City Institute of Human Development, the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Maryland, and the Special School District of St. Louis County (SSD) in Missouri. Other key collaborators include the Brown School Evaluation Center, Health Communication Research Laboratory, and the Institute for Informatics at Washington University. Funding Information: The authors thank the Genome Technology Access Center at the McDonnell Genome Institute of the Washington University School of Medicine for running the SARS-CoV-2 saliva testing, as well as the Department of Pathology and Immunology for access to their CAP/CLIA laboratory and their expertise in development of the saliva SARS-CoV-2 test. This work is supported by the National Institutes of Health through the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics—Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) Program (P50HD103525-01S1). This study is registered at http://clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT04565509. The authors would like to thank the following members from the Brown School Evaluation Center who contributed to the data collection and analysis activities: Courtney Cantwell, Heather Jacobsen, Missy Krauss, Emily Kryzer, Emily Laurent, D{\`e}j{\'a} Miles, Lexie Walsh, and Jacob Nason. The COMPASS-T project is a joint partnership between the Washington University in St. Louis Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (WUIDDRC), the University of Missouri-Kansas City Institute of Human Development, the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Maryland, and the Special School District of St. Louis County (SSD) in Missouri. Other key collaborators include the Brown School Evaluation Center, Health Communication Research Laboratory, and the Institute for Informatics at Washington University. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Authors. Journal of School Health published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American School Health Association.",
year = "2023",
month = mar,
doi = "10.1111/josh.13262",
language = "English",
volume = "93",
pages = "176--185",
journal = "Journal of School Health",
issn = "0022-4391",
number = "3",
}