Conceptions of participation in students with disabilities and persons in their close environment

Participation can be viewed as engagement in life situations and is often mentioned as a goal in relation to providing service to children with disabilities. Age-related differences in children's, parents', teachers', and consultants' conceptions of participation were investigated. Information on conceptions of participation was collected in conjunction with a larger survey of participation in school environments. The sample consisted of students with disabilities in all ages, their parents, teachers, and special education consultants. Respondents' definition of participation were inductively analyzed; in a second step a log-linear analysis was made on the basis of the themes from the qualitative analysis and related to students' chronological age and type of disability. Results indicated that students' conceptions of participation to a certain degree depended on age but not on type of disability. Respondents, other then students, tended to have a wider conception of participation suggesting that parents', teachers', and consultants' role and responsibility in relation to the student affects their conceptions of participation.