In this paper, the authors outline a project that they initiated in a mainstream primary school to promote cooperative learning throughout the school by using a lesson process to teach social and emotional skills. In doing so they provide a brief overview including research of the benefits of cooperative learning, followed by a description of how the project developed. Some evidence is presented from a variety of sources examining the impact of the project. The paper concludes by examining the factors that helped to establish cooperative learning practices in the school and by suggesting the kinds of data that may be useful to gather in the development of the project in other schools.

Purpose Autistic people are subject to having their behaviour shaped from a variety of practitioners predominantly using behaviourist methodologies. Little is known about how learning alternative humanistic methodologies impacts practitioner experiences of relational encounters with autistic people. This paper aims to develop an understanding of practitioner experiences of using person-centred counselling (PCC) skills and contact reflections (CR) when engaging with autistic people. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study used an interpretive approach to help elucidate perceptions of changing practice. It involved a framework analysis of 20 practitioner’s experiential case study accounts. Findings An overarching theme emerged: subtle transformations resulted from shifting practice paradigms. Four broad themes were identified: “A different way of being”; “Opening heightened channels of receptivity”; “Trust in self-actualising growth” and “Expanding relational ripples”. The findings suggest that PCC and CRs skills training shows promise in providing practitioners with a different way of being with autistic people that enhances their capacity towards neurotypical-neurodivergent intersubjectivity. Social implications The authors speculate on the power dynamics of care relationships and those who may identify as possessing autism expertise. The authors are curious as to whether this humanistic skills training can truly penetrate practitioner core values and see this as a fundamental issue which requires further investigation. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to provide a qualitative account of autism practitioner reflections following training in humanistic methodologies. It challenges the concept of autism expertise, guided by a pathologiSing model, focused on fixing a problem located in the person, which conceals the removal of personhood.

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Misfifed your electronic documents again? If your over-flowing paper files have been converted to scanned digital image formal there may have been a few problems along the way. A specialist in such conversions (contact them for all your document-imaging needs) points out the important considerations there in indexing. This part of his article is reprinted by permission from Information Media and Technology 24 (6), Nov. 1991.