Abstract
IntroductionThe universal right to education for people with disabilities has been highlighted by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In this paper, we mapped policies addressing the right to education and special education needs of autistic children in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland.MethodsA policy path analysis was carried out using a scoping review as an underlying framework for data gathering. Policy mapping was performed independently by both lead authors to increase reliability.Results and discussionThe values of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities have been closely translated into the respective education systems of the countries under study, offering special education needs services and support in mainstream education with the aim of including as many children into mainstream education as possible. Even though the education systems are comparable, the approaches between the countries under study are slightly different. Denmark and Sweden have passed several policies specifically geared towards special education needs, while Finland incorporates this more in general education policy.ConclusionAll countries under study have incorporated the values of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in their respective education systems while emphasising the need to include as many children in the mainstream system as possible.
Highlights
The universal right to education for people with disabilities has been highlighted by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Grindal and colleagues [9] describe four overarching educational approaches that schools can adopt: a) exclusion, which indicates an environment where children are denied access to education in any way; b) segregation, which happens when children with special educational needs (SEN) are being educated in a separated environment; c) integration, which describes the environment where children with SEN are included in mainstream education, yet have to completely adapt to its standardised requirements; and d) inclusion, which entails going beyond integrating children with SEN into mainstream education, to a process of systemic educational reform with a vision of providing equitable learning experiences for all children
We aim to investigate how these Nordic European Union (EU) countries approached the implementation of an education policy that promotes the rights of an autistic child to a fair and inclusive education
Summary
The evidence base for special educational needs (SEN) support has been reported previously [8] It was van Kessel et al Molecular Autism (2019) 10:44 identified that support in the areas of cognition and learning, social, emotional and mental health, and communication and interaction can lead to significant benefits for the development of children with SEN, while acknowledging that the SEN for autistic children may differ significantly per person. When looking at children with disabilities they reported improved social and cognitive development, along with better integration into post-secondary education or employment
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