Development and change in disabled children’s social participation assessed by parents in Norwegian daycare centres: 1999–2009

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore if there is any alteration in social participation with peers assessed by parents amongst children with disabilities from 1999 to 2009 and discuss the results in light of the developments in disability policies during the last decades, and internal developments in education/welfare policies regarding children under compulsory school age. We address changes in levels of social participation of children with disabilities in daycare centres and examine changes in mechanisms leading to social participation with peers from 1999 to 2009. The analysis is based on cross-sectional data of two representative samples of disabled children 10 years apart. The main finding of this study is that disabled children have increased their social participation with peers in the period from 1999 to 2009. Gender, age and being in a segregated daycare setting, all had a significant impact on social participation with peers in 1999, but had lost their significance in 2009. The current study found that Norwegian daycare centres still have to be considered as social integrating institutions, even though in the period from 1999 to 2009, they have changed from being a care- and family-supportive service to become a pedagogical service preparing children for school.

Keywords:

• daycare centres
• disabled children
• social participation
• social inclusion

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by The Research Council of Norway. Grant 182846/S20.

Notes

1. For all the following analyses, immigrant families are included, because analyses where they were excluded made no difference on the results.