Date created: | Last Updated:

Category: Project

Description: Background: The LEANS resource was co-developed by a neurodiverse team of researchers (including the authors listed on this pre-registration, in particular AA and SF-W) and eight experienced educators, including neurodivergent individuals. It was created through a process of design cycles (online meetings and individual preparation work) and resulted in 7 units: Introduction to neurodiversity, learning and thinking differently, communication and understanding, getting along together at school, is that fair?, different ways to make a friendship and neurodiversity in our classroom Purpose: The LEANS resource has been created to be delivered by teachers to whole classes of primary school pupils (age 8-11) to inform children about neurodiversity and to increase positive attitudes and intended actions towards neurodiversity and inclusion. Each of the 7 units are designed to communicate key points and combine hands-on activities, story content about a neurodiverse classroom and supporting materials (e.g., posters, videos) to do so. This preregistration is for the evaluation of LEANS which will test for changes in children’s knowledge of neurodiversity, and attitudes and intended actions in relation to neurodiversity and inclusion, following participation in LEANS (baseline and outcome-test measures to be completed by children). Although not included in this pre-registration, the LEANS evaluation will also include questions for all children about their perceptions of new knowledge and experiences of LEANS. In addition, individual interviews with children (n = ~20) with diagnosed/undiagnosed additional support needs, will be carried out, to learn about their experiences of LEANS and assess for potential harms. Furthermore, although not included in this pre-registration, the LEANS evaluation will also include data from teacher completed diaries during delivery of LEANS, to assess the acceptability and feasibility of LEANS for use in mainstream primary school classrooms. Note: this pre-registration does incorporate some content taken from teacher diaries regarding implementation fidelity. We will use teacher-self reports of their delivery of LEANS (e.g. any content missed-out or partially-delivered) for a sensitivity analysis excluding participants who exposure to LEANS learning materials falls below a pre-set threshold (see below for details). Research Questions 1. Does engaging with the LEANS resource result in children being able to demonstrate knowledge of neurodiversity at outcome? 2. Does engaging with the LEANS resource result in more positive attitudes and intended actions towards neurodiversity and inclusion, compared to baseline? Note on Measures: Knowledge of neurodiversity will be assessed via the Neurodiversity Knowledge Quiz (NDKQ), a measure created specifically for this project. One single item from the NDKQ (the “neurodiversity knowledge target item”) will also be administered at baseline to permit examination of change in knowledge. Two additional screening items (items 1 and 2) are included in the NDKQ to assess for engagement in LEANS. These will not be included when calculating the outcome variable, but will be used to screen participants for attention to the curriculum materials – a pre-requisite for knowledge. In a sensitivity analysis, we will repeat the main analysis after excluding children who fail both of these screening items – see Exclusions section for details. Attitudes and intended actions towards neurodiversity and inclusion will be assessed via the Attitudes and Actions Quiz (AAQ), a questionnaire created specifically for this project. Both questionnaires (including separate baseline and outcome versions of the AAQ) and a scoring guide are available as supplementary material