Impact of COVID-19 lockdown in England on challenging behaviour and adaptive skills for children in a special school: A longitudinal study

Abstract

Longitudinal research is crucial to fully assess the putative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with an intellectual disability in special school settings—ideally drawing on data pre-pandemic to be able to evaluate later impact. Data on challenging behaviour and adaptive skills were collected annually for 348 students in one special school across four time points pre-pandemic and one time point post-pandemic. Data were analysed using multilevel models with repeated observations over the five time points. There was a decrease in aggressive and destructive behaviours and a decrease in adaptive skills at the post-pandemic time point, after accounting for other important covariates. There was no evidence of a change in stereotyped or self-injurious challenging behaviours. Other research using longitudinal methods is rare, but the current findings are consistent with previous research reporting on the impact of COVID-19 on children and young people, particularly from parent reports. Future considerations for schools include adopting appropriate strategies to support learners to reintegrate back into education. Further research is needed to look at the longer-term impact of the pandemic on challenging behaviour in children with an intellectual disability.