Profiling School Transition Experiences Of Children On The Autism Spectrum

Author(s):

Helen Klieve(presenting / submitting)Sue Taylor(presenting)Dawn Adams Jacqueline Roberts

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

14 SES 04 A JS, Parents and Children with Autism: Lessons learned from Europe and Australia

Joint Paper Session NW 04 and NW 14

Time:

2017-08-23

09:00-10:30

Room:

K3.21

Chair:

Silvia Molina Roldán

Contribution

Increasing numbers of students with autism are being educated in mainstream schools. However, outcomes for students with autism are poor when compared to typical students and students with other developmental disabilities. (Roberts & Simpson, 2016, p1084)

In the school environment children on the autism spectrum can struggle with a range of issues, from social isolation and rejection, behaviour difficulties and bullying with recognised difficulties in transitioning into the school environment (Majoko, 2016). These difficulties then impact negatively on their educational outcomes (Keen, Webster & Ridley, 2016).

From the time their child is very young, parents are aware that their child on the autism spectrum will experience school differently from their peers without a diagnosis, and often feel powerless in their role as advocates for their child in a school context (McDonald, 2014). One strategy used by schools is for a formal transitioning process to support both school entry and also transitioning into a new environment – such as from primary to secondary school.

Formal transitioning strategies are widely used to support children with disabilities to start their school experience, with some autism specific studies focusing on particular strategies for this group. For example Forest, Horner, Lewis-Palmer, and Todd (2004) developed a list of 25 transition practices used in the USA which they grouped across the period of preparation leading up to the transition. Denkyirah & Agbeke (2010), also report on the transition of pre-schoolers on the autism spectrum into school, comparing the strategies used in the USA with those used in Ghana. They found some similarities and differences between the strategies used by each groups, with home interactions being one area of strong agreement. A more recent Australian study (Beamish, Bryer & Klieve, 2014) assessed the application and perceived effectiveness of 36 strategies across the transition process, again including the involvement of the family and also the sending and receiving teachers and schools. Thus, there is strong evidence to support the selection and use of transition practices to support children on the autism spectrum in their school journey.

One initiative from the Autism Cooperative Research Centre (https://www.autismcrc.com.au) has been the initiation of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Students with Autism (LASA) to gain a better understanding of the views and experiences of parents, their children and the school community as they gain an education. This six-year Australian government funded study has recruited parents with children in two age-cohort groups to provide both personal data and approve the collection of school data on their children for the study. One data set collected through the LASA reports, from school principals strategies and resources used in their schools to support students, with this including details of transition activities.

This small exploratory study draws on the LASA data set to profile the school environment of Australian children on the autism spectrum as they transition into the school system or move across school sectors (e.g. primary to secondary school). It will provide an initial descriptive analysis of the details collected from school principals around the objective of achieving an autism friendly school environment. This will include data on support for transitions into the school, use of Individual Education Plans, accommodations for standardized tests and social skills support.

Method

The Autism Cooperative Research Centre - the CRC - has 3 programs looking at Diagnosis, Education and Adulthood. The LASA study is one initiative of the Education Program is ‘to determine the relationship, if any, between child, family and environmental factors on the participation and educational trajectories of children with ASD’ (Autism CRC, 2016). Through the LASA study an extensive data base is being collected covering extensive details of the experiences of the child, their family and their school environment. This project reports on the findings from the principal survey, one dataset collected through the LASA study. The initial step for the parents wanting to participate in the LASA project is their registration of interest in the project. Following this they are contacted by the LASA Project Coordinator and initiate their involvement in the data collection process. Where parents give permission for the Project Coordinator to contact their child’s school and access associated data the Project Coordinator then contacts the principal of each school. Where the principal consents to their involvement and is provided a link to the School Survey – an online survey. This project is based on the data collected through a survey of 105 school principals. This survey requests responses in a number of areas: • Details of the principal, including gender, qualifications and experience; • Details of the school, including school sector (government or independent), location (metropolitan or remote), and whether regular or special school; • Details of school enrolments and behaviour management strategies; • Details of support resources available; • Details of students including total enrolments and those with specific disabilities; • Transition processes into foundation classes; and • Transition processes into secondary classes. The data collected in the current study comes from the first of six years of data collection which involves 266 children, their families and the schools they attend. At this point data from the first year of the study is available. The data sets that will be analysed for this application include 105 principal questionnaires. The data have been entered into SPSS (v23). Given the exploratory nature of this data the main focus of the analysis is in profiling the transition practices used by schools with a comparison across mainstream and special schools and also the disability focus (ie proportion of children with disabilities in the student cohort, and the number of these with autism) in each school.

Expected Outcomes

This paper will report on the responses were received from 105 Principals. The schools that are reported on in this study include 79 regular schools and 22 special schools. Most of the schools in the study included classes from the initial foundation year through to secondary education. In response to questions regarding transition, most of the schools surveyed did implement transition processes both into the foundation year and also for the move from primary to secondary schooling. Details of the transition processes undertaken provide rich detail of school specific situations and detail of how the child and their family are supported in the transition process. Schools also provided details where transition strategies were not undertaken. Reasons for this include cases where the school had its own early learning centre where there was no need for a formal transition process. Comparisons in the overall support offered by regular and special school also shows differences. For example a higher proportion of special schools offered school-wide social skills programs, positive behaviour support programs and other initiatives for students with disabilities than do mainstream school settings. The overall analysis of the principal responses will provides a valuable profile of what schools offer students on the autism spectrum to support them entering the school and as ongoing support for the child. Extending from this the paper provides details of the specific applications of different transition strategies and also a comparison of how such strategies differ across a range of different school types – from regular to special school and from large metropolitan schools to those located in small regional and remote locations.

References

Autism CRC. (2016). Longitudinal Study of Australian Students with Autism Retrieved from http://autismcrc.com.au/longitudinal-study-australian-students-autism Beamish, W., Bryer, F. & Klieve, H. (2014) Transitioning Children with Autism to School: Identifying the Most Important Practices. Australasian Journal of Special Education, p. 1-13. Denkyirah, A. M., & Agbeke, W. K. (2010). Strategies for transitioning preschoolers with autism spectrum disorders to kindergarten. Early Childhood Education Journal, 38, 265-270. doi: 10.1007/s10643-010-0407-z Forest, E., Horner, R., Lewis-Palmer, T., & Todd, A. (2004). Transitions for young children with autism from preschool to kindergarten. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 6, 103-112. doi: 10.1177/10983007040060020501 Keen, D., Webster A., & Ridley, G. (2016). How well are children with autism spectrum disorder doing academically at school? An overview of the literature. Autism, 20, 276-294. doi:10.1177/1362361315580962 McDonald, J. (2014). How parents deal with the education of their child on the autism spectrum. Rotterdam, NL: Sense Publishers. Majoko, T. (2016). Inclusion of children with autism spectrum disorders: Listening and hearing to voices from the grassroots. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46, 1429 – 1440. doi: 10.1007/s10803-015-2685-1 Roberts, J., & Simpson, K. (2016). A review of research into stakeholder perspectives on inclusion of students with autism in mainstream schools. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 20(10), 1084–1096.

Author Information

Helen Klieve (presenting / submitting)

Griffith University, Australia

Sue Taylor (presenting)

Griffith University

Education and Professional Studies

BRISBANE

Dawn Adams

Griffith University, Australia

Jacqueline Roberts

Griffith University, Australia

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