Peer-reviewed article
Educational outcomes of children with cerebral palsy
Hywel Jones, Bethan Carter, Jackie Bethan, Huw Collins, Ting Wang et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined educational outcomes for children with cerebral palsy in Wales using linked school and health records. Children with cerebral palsy were more likely to live in deprived areas, have special educational needs statements, and attend mainstream schools with worse attendance and academic results than peers. Around 30% of children with cerebral palsy attended special schools, while those in mainstream schools missed significantly more school sessions and achieved lower grades at key stages 2 and 3.
Key points
- Approximately 60% of children with cerebral palsy had a statement of special educational needs
- Children with cerebral palsy in mainstream schools missed around 50% more school sessions than other children
- Lower percentages of children with cerebral palsy achieved expected levels at Key Stages 2 and 3 and the Level 2 GCSE threshold
- Prevalence of cerebral palsy was higher among children living in relatively deprived areas
- Around 30% of children with cerebral palsy were educated in special schools
Limitations
This is a descriptive study using routine administrative data; it describes patterns and prevalence but does not explain the causes of poor educational outcomes or evaluate any intervention to improve them. The cross-sectional design cannot establish causation or identify factors that might improve outcomes for this population.
Abstract
IntroductionChildren with special educational needs (SEN) are more likely to have disadvantaged backgrounds than their peers, attend school less and do not achieve as well academically. Many children with a cerebral palsy (CP) have SEN but little is known about their educational outcomes. Objectives and ApproachTo investigate the background of children in Wales with CP and describe their educational experience including: type of SEN and SEN provision; school attendance; achievement—teacher assessments at the end of the Foundation Phase and Key Stages 2 and 3 of the National Curriculum (NC)— and in General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations. Data from the Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC), NC and GCSE results were linked with routine e-health records of primary and secondary health care data held in SAIL. Using health care records for everyone aged between 0-25 in 2004–14, cases of CP were flagged. ResultsThe linked data set included some 1500–2000 children per school census classified as having a CP, representing a prevalence of some 0.3%. Provisionally, results show: prevalence of CP is higher amongst children living in relatively deprived areas; around 60% of CP children have a statement of SEN; the SEN type most commonly recorded for CP children with SEN is ‘Physical and medical difficulties’ and relatively high proportions have profound, multiple or severe learning difficulties; around 30% of CP children are educated in special schools; CP children in main stream (primary, middle and secondary) schools tended to miss more school sessions (~50% more) than other children and lower percentages achieved the expected levels at key stages 2 and 3 and the Level 2 GCSE threshold. Conclusion/ImplicationsThis work demonstrates the utility of record-linkage for providing information to parents, carers and policymakers about education outcomes for this group of children to inform planning and service provision.