Parenting Under Pressure: Raising School-Age Children with Disabilities During a Pandemic in Sweden

Building on qualitative interviews with parents, this study contributes knowledge about how the school-related practices of parents of children with intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The interviews were analysed using a constructive grounded theory approach. The findings show that a situation that was already strained became intensified during the pandemic, but that pressure was also relieved in several ways. This change relates to four categories: a) shifted responsibilities, b) communication and information challenges, c) understanding and adapted routines, and d) additional resources for children in parent-child negotiations relating to school.

Additionally, the stories contain a description of non-change, which can be linked to the everyday struggles of parenting a school-age child with disabilities, with or without a pandemic.