title: "Experiences of families and professionals living/interacting with neurodivergent children while navigating the policy contexts of health, education and social services: The fight for accessible and suitable support"

authors: Robyns, Kelly Louise

subjects: Neurodivergent

abstract: Families of neurodivergent children often end up interacting with policy contexts of health, education, and social services on a regular basis when they have unmet needs. My research investigates these policy contexts to better understand how more accessible and suitable support can be provided to meet those needs. My research also describes the experiences of families that struggle to find or receive accessible and suitable support. I also aimed to highlight the principles of the neurodiversity paradigm to illustrate the deficit-based thinking of current systems and practice. It is natural, healthy, and valuable to have diversity among minds, both in the classroom and in society. The principles of the neurodiversity paradigm challenge the ways in which health, education, and social service systems respond to neurodivergent children. My research design included literature review, policy analysis, key informant interviews and autoethnographic reflections. Literature was drawn from academic research, but grey literature was particularly important as sometimes families of neurodivergent children at crisis point feel that they had no choice but to talk to the media. I also undertook interviews with social service professionals locally to understand their position on New Zealand provision for neurodivergent children and their families. My findings indicate that there are key limitations and problems in relation to current policy and practice. There is tension between the policy emphasis of inclusion and the real-life experiences that document the practice of exclusion. This could be due to the ways in which neurodivergent children are constructed and framed through policy language that reflects a deficit-thinking model. To ensure that the needs of neurodivergent children are met through the paradigm of neurodiversity more professional development and policy language shifts need to occur so that society can see neurological differences as a valuable part of humanity. Furthermore, greater emphasis needs to be placed on options that are accessible for families, and suitable to the unique needs of their children. Overall, the research also demonstrates that much higher levels of transparency is needed between the siloed policy areas of health, education and social services, the professionals who work in each of these areas and most importantly between clinicians and families in relation to diagnoses, funding, and physical support. Finally, there also needs to be transparency in terms of the objectives of the neurodiversity paradigm which is to make clear the faults of the system and accept difference as the norm. The neurodiversity movement and paradigm challenge the deficit-based pathological views of neurological differences such as autism, ADHD, epilepsy and other neurodivergences. When neurodivergence is pathologized neurodivergent people are compared to a fictional norm or a ‘right’ way of being resulting in stigma, shame and often co-occurring mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. These findings are important as families of neurodivergent children with unmet needs are forced to interact with policy contexts to receive support and funding. Accessible, suitable support including funding availability is essential to a neurodivergent child’s well-being and inclusion within society.

text: "Experiences of families and professionals living/interacting with neurodivergent children while navigating the policy contexts of health, education and social services: The fight for accessible and suitable support" Families of neurodivergent children often end up interacting with policy contexts of health, education, and social services on a regular basis when they have unmet needs. My research investigates these policy contexts to better understand how more accessible and suitable support can be provided to meet those needs. My research also describes the experiences of families that struggle to find or receive accessible and suitable support. I also aimed to highlight the principles of the neurodiversity paradigm to illustrate the deficit-based thinking of current systems and practice. It is natural, healthy, and valuable to have diversity among minds, both in the classroom and in society. The principles of the neurodiversity paradigm challenge the ways in which health, education, and social service systems respond to neurodivergent children. My research design included literature review, policy analysis, key informant interviews and autoethnographic reflections. Literature was drawn from academic research, but grey literature was particularly important as sometimes families of neurodivergent children at crisis point feel that they had no choice but to talk to the media. I also undertook interviews with social service professionals locally to understand their position on New Zealand provision for neurodivergent children and their families. My findings indicate that there are key limitations and problems in relation to current policy and practice. There is tension between the policy emphasis of inclusion and the real-life experiences that document the practice of exclusion. This could be due to the ways in which neurodivergent children are constructed and framed through policy language that reflects a deficit-thinking model. To ensure that the needs of neurodivergent children are met through the paradigm of neurodiversity more professional development and policy language shifts need to occur so that society can see neurological differences as a valuable part of humanity. Furthermore, greater emphasis needs to be placed on options that are accessible for families, and suitable to the unique needs of their children. Overall, the research also demonstrates that much higher levels of transparency is needed between the siloed policy areas of health, education and social services, the professionals who work in each of these areas and most importantly between clinicians and families in relation to diagnoses, funding, and physical support. Finally, there also needs to be transparency in terms of the objectives of the neurodiversity paradigm which is to make clear the faults of the system and accept difference as the norm. The neurodiversity movement and paradigm challenge the deficit-based pathological views of neurological differences such as autism, ADHD, epilepsy and other neurodivergences. When neurodivergence is pathologized neurodivergent people are compared to a fictional norm or a ‘right’ way of being resulting in stigma, shame and often co-occurring mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. These findings are important as families of neurodivergent children with unmet needs are forced to interact with policy contexts to receive support and funding. Accessible, suitable support including funding availability is essential to a neurodivergent child’s well-being and inclusion within society.

year: 2023

title: Fighting the odds to make it even: Mapping an affordance ecosystem in a kindergarten community

authors: Clarkin-Phillips, Jeanette

subjects: early childhood education

abstract: This thesis is a case study of a kindergarten in one of the most deprived areas of Aotearoa New Zealand. Through the documentation of the stories of management, teachers and families, the thesis explores how the transformation of the kindergarten and a policy intervention have provided multiple opportunities and affordances for adults to realise their aspirations. Bourdieu’s logic of practice thinking tools and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory are intertwined to theorise about the contribution of macrosystem ideologies that position communities as vulnerable and frame up subsequent exosystem policy attempts to intervene. 

The concept of habitus is applied to explain how a commitment to social justice and an empowerment view of individuals and communities can afford conditions for the transformation of habitus. The thesis argues that the level of strength of an affordance is significant in the recognition and utilisation of opportunities and that early childhood teachers can be mesosystem agents in mediating affordances. Inherent in the thesis is the acknowledgment that early childhood services have the potential to contribute to positive life trajectories for adults as well as children, particularly for those in communities who have the odds stacked against them.

The thesis adds to the scholarship about habitus and its transforming features and contributes to a deeper understanding about the role of effective early years services as powerful intervention sites for adults. The unique combination of Bourdieu and Bronfenbrenner’s theories offers new insights about the individual/environment relationship and impacts on agency. The thesis outlines a range of policy implications for consideration with respect to communities who are poorly provided for due to dominant ideological discourses and reiterates the right of all individuals to realise their hopes and dreams.

text: Fighting the odds to make it even: Mapping an affordance ecosystem in a kindergarten community This thesis is a case study of a kindergarten in one of the most deprived areas of Aotearoa New Zealand. Through the documentation of the stories of management, teachers and families, the thesis explores how the transformation of the kindergarten and a policy intervention have provided multiple opportunities and affordances for adults to realise their aspirations. Bourdieu’s logic of practice thinking tools and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory are intertwined to theorise about the contribution of macrosystem ideologies that position communities as vulnerable and frame up subsequent exosystem policy attempts to intervene. 

The concept of habitus is applied to explain how a commitment to social justice and an empowerment view of individuals and communities can afford conditions for the transformation of habitus. The thesis argues that the level of strength of an affordance is significant in the recognition and utilisation of opportunities and that early childhood teachers can be mesosystem agents in mediating affordances. Inherent in the thesis is the acknowledgment that early childhood services have the potential to contribute to positive life trajectories for adults as well as children, particularly for those in communities who have the odds stacked against them.

The thesis adds to the scholarship about habitus and its transforming features and contributes to a deeper understanding about the role of effective early years services as powerful intervention sites for adults. The unique combination of Bourdieu and Bronfenbrenner’s theories offers new insights about the individual/environment relationship and impacts on agency. The thesis outlines a range of policy implications for consideration with respect to communities who are poorly provided for due to dominant ideological discourses and reiterates the right of all individuals to realise their hopes and dreams.

year: 2016

title: Promoting social and environmental justice to support Indigenous partnerships in urban ecosystem restoration

authors: Hall, Monique

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Urban ecological restoration typically employs western science approaches to restore degraded ecosystems. As yet, few restoration groups acknowledge the history of these degraded urban sites, despite connections, past and present, that root Indigenous Peoples (and others) in these lands. Here, we promote partnership with Indigenous communities from project inception and present two successful case studies from Aotearoa New Zealand. We specifically note that partnering and building relationships with Indigenous communities in restoration efforts require recognition of power inequalities and injustices. We consider success to include both restoration of ecological function and biodiversity and reconnection of all communities to urban ecosystems.

text: Promoting social and environmental justice to support Indigenous partnerships in urban ecosystem restoration Urban ecological restoration typically employs western science approaches to restore degraded ecosystems. As yet, few restoration groups acknowledge the history of these degraded urban sites, despite connections, past and present, that root Indigenous Peoples (and others) in these lands. Here, we promote partnership with Indigenous communities from project inception and present two successful case studies from Aotearoa New Zealand. We specifically note that partnering and building relationships with Indigenous communities in restoration efforts require recognition of power inequalities and injustices. We consider success to include both restoration of ecological function and biodiversity and reconnection of all communities to urban ecosystems.

year: 2020-11-27