Research Progress

Presentation
Presented by Tayla Owen-Jones
What is my research
about?

A Mixed methods systematic review protocol of current school – based

interventions in place to support learners with neurodevelopmental delays.

This research aims to explore four main questions through looking at existing research:
• What is the prevalence of Neurodevelopmental delays in the schooling environment?
• What school – based strategies are in place to assist learners with a
Neurodevelopmental delay?
• How do strategies differ between the Western and African context?
• Are these interventions school–based intervention effective?
 Existing Issues in the Field
Research on intervention
is very one sided
The research that does exist looking into
intervention for Developmental Delays is
focused around two main area’s of early
intervention and parent assisted
intervention
Research is very Western
focused
The research that does exist is very
focused on contexts outside of our own,
making these interventions somewhat
unattainable
There is little to no research
on school - based
interventions
Whilst considering early intervention
and parent intervention is important,
there is little research on school based
intervention. This speaks directly to the
need for the review.
 Outline of Methodology
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
1. Studies must be in English, studies in any other language were excluded as adequate translation is not available
2. Studies of a qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method nature can be included due to the nature of the question; this can lead to qualitative and quantitative
studies to be found
3. Qualitative and Quantitative Studies between the years of 2001 and 2023 will be acceptable as policy regarding inclusive education in South Africa was
introduced in 2001. Mixed Method studies will only be included if qualitative and quantitative data components can be clearly extracted (Lizarondo et al., 2020).
4. Studies that have been published
5. This review will consider studies that investigate the Neurodivergent population
6. The qualitative component of the review will investigate individuals who are experiencing some form of a developmental delay
7. This quantitative component of the review will consider studies that investigate school– based interventions for developmental delays
The quantitative aspect of this review will consider studies which include the following outcome measures:
1. Effectiveness of the school – based interventions
2. Prevalence of delays
3. The qualitative aspect of the study will investigate the following contexts:
4. School settings
5. Special education settings
6. Remedial settings

Exclusion Criteria:
1. Unpublished studies
2. Studies not in English
3. Studies that do not speak to developmental delays
4. Studies that do not speak to developmental delays in the school-based setting
 Outline of Methodology

Search Stratergy Assesment of Methodological Quality

Databases that will be screened include:
• Worldcat through UKZN Library Articles that have been included from the
• PsycInfo RYYAN tool with further be assessed
• Ebschost using the JBI tool for critical appraisal
• Google Scholar tools for qualitative and quantitative
• Taylor and Francis studies
• JSTOR
Analysis
• Pubmed
The qualitative and quantitative aspects of
• Proquest the study’s will be analysed seperatly using
• Science direct content and thematic analysis, the thematic
Articles were screened from title to abstract to analysis will be assited using NVIVO
full articles with the assistance of RYYAN
 Progress to date

2. 3.
1. 4.
Data collection is Data Analysis has begun, using I have started to
Ethical Clearance has
complete, and all articles NVIVO and content analysis. compile the
been obtained, exemption
have been screened using Some interesting area’s that word document
number
the Ryaan tool for have come up so far include: for the final
00022303
systematic reviews • School based intervention
submission
(more on this to follow) differs vastly between
contexts
• As expected, there is alot
more research looking at
the Western context
 Article Screening
Included Breakdown
2.3%
Articles Screened

11 1515 (After the removal of duplicates)

Articles Included

260 : Based on the inclusion and exclusion

criteria set out for the study
This further dropped to 180 after using the
critical appraisal tool

Excluded Articles Excluded

97.7%
10 853 : Based on the inclusion and
exclusion criteria set out for the study
 Successes and Challenges
Ethical Clearance : Ethical
Clearance was able to be
obtained in an appropriate
timeline which has ensured the
progress of the study
Time consuming
Successes
Completing Data Collection:
Staying on track
This step took longer than
expected, completing this step
was a huge milestone
Challenges
Using software such as
RYYANN and NVIVO comes
with its own set of challenges
Plan of Action

September October and November

The plan for September is to analyse the October and November will be focused on
articles that have been extracted using writing the actual thesis based on the
NVIVIO and Content Analysis. results.

December
The plan is to submit the thesis on
December 1 for possible graduation in
April 2024
Thanks For
Listening