Social participation of students with autism spectrum disorder in general education settings

Mamas, Christoforos; Daly, Alan J.; Cohen, Stephen S.; Jones, Gabrielle

doi:10.1016/j.lcsi.2020.100467

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 50 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Autistic children and young people often struggle in formal educational institutions for a host of reasons (Goodall, 2018;Hodges et al, 2020). They regularly encounter sensory challenges within the physical school environment (Jones et al, 2020); complex social expectations and interactions (Mamas et al, 2021;Williams et al, 2019); social isolation and bullying (Aubé et al, 2020;Maïano et al, 2016); a multitude of transitions (Makin et al, 2017; see also Nuske et al, 2019); low presumption of competence and expectations engendered in part by the predominance of a deficits-based model of autism (Biklen, 2020;Jorgensen, 2018); and limited attention to their specific needs, strengths and preferences (Makin et al, 2017), including being in the care of teachers and school staff who lack confidence in understanding how to include their autistic students (Roberts & Webster, 2020;Robertson et al, 2003). Such challenges often result in the educational exclusion of autistic students (Barnard et al, 2000;Brede et al, 2017;Lilley, 2015), as well as an increased incidence of school refusal (Munkhaugen et al, 2017;Ochi et al, 2020) and mental health complications (Crane et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, schooling from home, even in such unsettling circumstances, might also have presented some distinct advantages for autistic students (Reicher, 2020). Home environments, after all, offer less potential for the sensory and social overwhelm that often blights the autistic experience in formal schooling (Aubé et al, 2020; Cresswell et al, 2019; Jones et al, 2020; Maïano et al, 2016; Mamas et al, 2021; Williams et al, 2019; see Reicher, 2020, for discussion) – which is an often-cited reason for parents deciding to homeschool their autistic children (see O’Hagan et al, 2021, for review). In line with this view, some studies have reported that the removal of many everyday pressures commonly experienced in school settings has resulted in some autistic children being more relaxed (Asbury et al, 2021; Rogers et al, 2021) and communicative (Mumbardó-Adam et al, 2021) during the COVID-19 lockdowns.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

“It just fits my needs better”: Autistic students and parents’ experiences of learning from home during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic

Heyworth

Brett

Houting

et al. 2021

Autism & Developmental Language Impairments

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background and aims The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruption to people's lives, especially for families, whose children have been taken out of schools during lockdown restrictions and required to learn from home. Little is known, however, about the perceived impact of the lockdown restrictions on the educational experiences of autistic children and young people – a group whose conventional schooling experiences are already often challenging. In this study, we sought to (1) understand these experiences from the perspectives of autistic young people and their parents, and (2) identify the underlying sources of positive experiences at this challenging time, in order to inform the ways in which autistic children might flourish at school in more normal times. Methods Ninety-one Australian participants, including 16 autistic young people aged 12–18 years, 32 autistic parents and 43 non-autistic parents of autistic young people aged 3–18 years, took part in semi-structured interviews about their experiences of life during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The interviews were subjected to reflexive, thematic analysis to identify themes and subthemes for each research question. Results Overall, our participants initially found the transition to learning from home extremely challenging, with parents reporting that the support received from schools was far from adequate. After that initial period of transition, however, many autistic children reported flourishing at home both educationally and personally. For these children and families, we identified three key ingredients essential to this flourishing, including: (i) the importance of connected, trusting relationships (‘people’); (ii) the sensory and social safety of home (‘place’); and (iii) the flexibility to pace and structure learning to suit the individual child (‘time’). Conclusions While the initial COVID-19 lockdown presented many challenges to children learning at home, there were aspects of this otherwise-unsettling situation that enabled children to thrive and from which we can learn for the future. Implications These findings have important implications for understanding how and when autistic children might thrive in institutional educational settings once the pandemic subsides, focusing on the relationships between teachers and students, the nature of the physical learning environment and the need for greater flexibility in planning the school day.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“It just fits my needs better”: Autistic students and parents’ experiences of learning from home during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic

Heyworth

Brett

Houting

et al. 2021

Autism & Developmental Language Impairments

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There are, they argue, 'many ways to get it right online' (15). Education from home can provide distinct advantages such as lower sensory input, less stress from having to mask and interpret social cues and communication norms, challenges which often blight autistic students' experiences in school (Heyworth et al, 2021;Mamas et al, 2021). Heyworth et al (2021), for example, found that many autistic children in their study (75 parents of autistic children and 16 autistic students in Australia) became calmer and more communicative, had 'come out of their shell' and had made 'substantial progress in learning and life skills'.…”

Section: Challenges Of Remote Online Teachingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bahraini Teachers’ Perceptions on the Challenges of Remote Teaching for Autistic Children

Daghustani,

MacKenzie

2024

RESSAT

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This research aims to understand how teachers of autistic children responded to teaching remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Six teachers who work in an autism centre took part in face-to-face semi-structured interviews in the Kingdom of Bahrain on their perspectives of teaching autistic children remotely and how their mothers adapted to this mode of teaching. The teachers reported that the unprecedented change was challenging for autistic children and their families, but especially for mothers, who were in all cases, the primary caretakers. The effectiveness of remote teaching depended on the cooperation and the willingness of the mother and child to engage in the process. Overall, teachers agreed that in comparison to face-to-face teaching, remote teaching was not a positive experience.

show abstract

“…Autistic children often struggle in formal educational institutions for many reasons (Goodall, 2018;Hodges et al, 2020). They regularly face sensory challenges within the physical school environment (Jones et al, 2020), complex social expectations and interactions (Mamas et al, 2021;Williams et al, 2019), social isolation and bullying (Aubé et al, 2020 ;Maiano et al, 2016), a multitude of transitions (Makin et al, 2017;Nuske et al, 2019), and low expectations resulting in part from the prevalence of a deficit-based model of autism (Biklen, 2020) .…”

Section: Problems In the Education Of Students With Autismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Educating students with autism through ICT during the COVID-19 pandemic

Vouglanis¹,

Driga²

2023

World J. Bio. Pharm. Health Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The closure of schools due to the pandemic led to the forced implementation of distance education. For students with autism, this also meant an interruption of the support they were receiving. Parents were asked to provide this support without having the proper training. The interruption of the operation of schools and the transfer of education to the home, also meant a change in the routine of autistic children, an element that caused them an even greater burden.

show abstract

Social participation of students with autism spectrum disorder in general education settings

Cited by 13 publications

References 50 publications

“It just fits my needs better”: Autistic students and parents’ experiences of learning from home during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic

“It just fits my needs better”: Autistic students and parents’ experiences of learning from home during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic

Bahraini Teachers’ Perceptions on the Challenges of Remote Teaching for Autistic Children

Educating students with autism through ICT during the COVID-19 pandemic

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About