Belonging, school support and communication: Essential aspects of school success for students with cerebral palsy in mainstream schools Helen Bourke-Taylor a, * , Claire Cotter b , Lindy Johnson c , Aislinn Lalor a a Occupational Therapy Department, School of Primary and Allied Health Care, Monash University, Level 4, Building G, Peninsula Campus, McMahons Road, Frankston, VIC 3199, Australia b Cerebral Palsy Education Centre, Beacon St., Glen Waverley 3150, Australia c Royal Children's Hospital, Flemington Road, Parkville, Melbourne 3052, Australia highlights  Students with cerebral palsy need school accommodations to enable participation.  Teacher, parents, students and allied health collaborate to achieve inclusion.  Qualitative methods enable experiences to be heard as evidence of success.  Inclusive practice and pedagogy should be informed by real experiences. article info Article history: Received 30 March 2017 Received in revised form 9 November 2017 Accepted 14 November 2017 Keywords: Inclusion Inclusive practices Students with disability Cerebral palsy Parents abstract Purpose: Investigate successful school experiences for students with cerebral palsy (CP); identify and describe learning and participation at school. Methods: A phenomenologically-informed qualitative study using in-depth interviews with students (n ¼ 7), parents (n ¼ 11), teachers (n ¼ 10), principals (n ¼ 9), and allied health (n ¼ 10) was conducted to investigate multiple perceptions. Thematic analysis occurred within and between groups. Results: Three themes were identified: Students belong and benefit; Classroom enablers that help; Communication is crucial. Conclusions: Students’ school experiences are enhanced by innovative classroom solutions that support classroom learning and involvement. Students rely on a diverse team that communicate well and implement individualised solutions that enable success. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Cerebral palsy (CP) is the leading cause of physical disability in childhood (Rosenbaum, Paneth, Leviton, Goldstein, & Bax, 2007). CP is complex and non-progressive with associated conditions including epilepsy, sleep disorders, visual and hearing impair- ments, sensory impairments, feeding issues, respiratory problems, musculoskeletal dysfunction and chronic pain (Colver, Fairhurst, & Pharoah, 2014; Rosenbaum et al., 2007). Children are usually diagnosed early and consequently receive services from multiple medical, allied health and early intervention services (EIS) before they enter school. EIS targets the child's development, education and health, as well as family needs around disability within the context of family-centred practice (Rodger & Keen, 2010). The aim of EIS is that by school entry, families may understand their child's physical and developmental needs and have had services from al- lied health disciplines who have supported their child's health and development in the early years (Davis & Gavida-Payne, 2009). Although substantial services may be accessed in early years to prepare for school, educational attainment of students with phys- ical disabilities is widely known to be below that of able-bodied peers and has long-ranging consequences (Rutkowski & Riehle, 2009). In particular, adults with CP who have mobility restrictions often have reduced educational achievement and associated lack of involvement in paid work and community opportunities (Huang et al., 2013; T€ ornbom, Jonsson, & Sunnerhagen, 2014). Past research has highlighted many challenges for students with phys- ical disabilities and school communities including parental hesi- tation to enrol their child in local mainstream schooling (Leyser & Kirk, 2004); schools lack of acknowledgement of parents * Corresponding author. E-mail address: helen.bourke-taylor@monash.edu (H. Bourke-Taylor). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Teaching and Teacher Education journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tate https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.11.016 0742-051X/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Teaching and Teacher Education 70 (2018) 153e164