We believe that all children should be able to experience the benefits of travelling actively to school. In one of the first studies on this topic, new research by Sustrans explores neurodiverse children’s experiences of walking, wheeling and cycling to school in Scotland.
Children walking to school. Credit: Sustrans
What is neurodiversity?
Neurodiversity refers to the differences and variation in the ways that people’s brains function and process information.
It’s generally used to describe a range of neurological differences including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Tourette Syndrome and others.
It is estimated that around 10% of children in Scotland are neurodiverse [i].
However, neurodiverse children remain sorely underrepresented in research on children’s active school journeys.
What did we do?
For this research, funded by Transport Scotland, we spoke to eight families across Scotland.
We involved parents and children through interviews and creative activities and also reviewed previous research in this area.
Being a small-scale project, the research provides initial insights which we hope will inspire further work into this understudied topic.
The benefits of active travel
All the families we spoke to wanted to be able to travel actively to school.
They anticipated a range of benefits to walking, wheeling and cycling to school that related to their children’s neurodiversity.
This included having time to release energy and adjust between home and school, as well as helping to improve children’s balance, strength and stamina.
Trips to school were also seen as important in building children’s skills and confidence in navigating public spaces, and developing parent’s confidence in their children’s abilities.
A boy pushing a bike near a school. Credit: Paul Mitchell/Sustrans
Challenges on the school run
Despite wanting to be able to travel actively to school, families described a range of challenges which made it difficult.
- Differences in children’s awareness and focus: Children can often get distracted by things in the environment and find it difficult to remember to safely navigate crossing roads. This is particularly when experiencing strong emotions like excitement or anxiety.
- Differences in sensory processing: This includes sensitivity to bright lights, noise, crowded places, and cold. Children often get overwhelmed in these situations and this exacerbates challenges with awareness.
- Differences in children’s balance, motor skills, strength and stamina: This can lead to difficulties walking on uneven surfaces, tiring more easily than others and challenges with learning to cycle.
- Anxiety about attending school: Getting out of the house can be tricky and journeys to school emotionally difficult experiences.
These challenges lead to significant concerns around children’s safety from road traffic, as well as their personal safety.
They can also mean that travelling actively can take longer than it would for others – forcing some parents to take the fastest form of transport available.
Removing barriers to travelling actively
We asked families what would help remove barriers and make walking, wheeling and cycling an easier experience.
They spoke about wanting changes to streets and infrastructure to help them feel safer, including:
- More controlled crossings and lollipop people
- Fewer vehicles on the streets around schools through measures such as park and stride and modal filters
- Wider and less uneven footpaths
- Safer cycling infrastructure on routes to schools
- Patterns and signs on footpaths towards the school, giving children something to focus on.
Families also wanted to see activities and training which would give them extra support in learning how to safely walk, wheel and cycle, and opportunities to practice doing so.
They had suggestions for how these should be run to accommodate children’s needs, including:
- Small group or one-to-one sessions
- Sessions done over time to build relationships
- Providing information about what will be done in sessions beforehand
- Breaking down instructions into small sequences
- Training focused on patiently teaching the motions of cycling and how to balance.
Looking forward
As we continue to support more children to travel to school actively, we need to ensure that our efforts take account of the needs of every child.
We hope these findings will support active travel professionals to ensure the inclusive design and delivery of school-based projects and inspire further research and work in this area.
References
[i] McLeod, S. (2021) Children and young people – national neurodevelopmental specification: principles and standards of care, Scottish Government, available online.
About the author/partner
Sustrans’ Research and Monitoring Unit (RMU) specialise in active travel, making the case for walking, wheeling and cycling by using robust research and evidence.
This research was carried out as part of the Scottish Research Programme (SRP). The Scottish Research Programme is carried out by Sustrans’ Research and Monitoring Unit (RMU) and funded by Transport Scotland.
The Scottish Research programme provides funding for projects that advance understandings of, and generate evidence in support of, active travel.