Predictors of Additional Support Needs (ASN) in Scottish Schools'

Additional Support Needs (ASN) in the context of Scottish education is a wider concept than that of ‘special educational needs’ (SEN); the ASN of a child can be temporary or long-term , and the concept encompasses children whose needs arise from physical conditions, neuro-developmental conditions, and cognitive abilities, as well as children whose needs arise from family circumstances, and environmental influences. Social and Behavioural ASN are indicated to be the most frequently reported type of identified ASN for young children (Marwick and Sosu, 2014).

Social and Behavioral difficulties can impact on social inclusion and relationships, as well as learning and mental well-being, and later educational and out of school outcomes (Layard and Dunn, 2009). If predictors of social and behavioural ASN can be identified at an early point in the child’s development, it may be possible to develop supportive early intervention towards an optimally responsive environment for the child.

The Growing Up in Scotland (GUS) study has longitudinal data tracking the development of some 8000 children in Scotland, starting from 2003. Consequently the aim of this research is to investigate early predictors from within the GUS data in the pre-school years, of social and behavioural difficulties identified as a category of ASN in an educational setting at 6 years of age.

The GUS anonymised data set includes the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) (Goodman, 1997) completed by parents in respect of their child at ages 4, 5, and 6 years, and also ASN identification for their child reported by parents at age 6 years. Initial analysis of our findings (Marwick and Sosu 2014) examining associations between persistence of untypical non-optimal SDQ scores reported for a child across the pre-school years and later ASN outcomes, indicated scores in hyperactivity, conduct, and peer relations to be the strongest predictors of later identification of social and behavioural ASN identification. However, a sizable proportion of children identified as having social and behavioral ASN at age 6 years were not found to have had persistent atypical scores on the SDQ domains. The findings indicate a complex interplay between ASN status and parental perceptions of early persistent difficulties in domains of the SDQ, and indicate the need to examine further factors which may predict or explain ASN outcomes for the children, such as family circumstances and the role that responsiveness in the school environment may play in the social and behavioural ASN outcome for a child.

To understand this further the objectives of this research were to investigate additional factors within the GUS data set in relation to ASN outcomes for all children reported by parents as having persistently abnormal conduct and hyperactivity SDQ scores at ages 4 and 5 years, and for all children identified as at age 6 years as having an social and behave ASN


We expect to find significant predicting factors in relation to ASN outcomes for all children reported by parents as having persistently atypical conduct and hyperactivity SDQ scores at ages 4 and 5 years, and for all children identified as at age 6 years as having an social and behave ASN. This will be of value in developing supportive early intervention and understanding the role that responsiveness in the school environment may play in the social and behavioural ASN outcome for a child. It is anticipated that outcomes from this research will be of marked relevance to practice and policy, and to young children’s emotional and social development and well-being.