„Suddenly he fit into a box in the school system“: Experiences of parents of children with ASD

Author(s):

Jonina Saemundsdottir(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

15. Research Partnerships in Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

15 SES 04, Poster and Pecha Kucha, an Interactive Session

Poster/Pecha Kucha Session

Time:

2017-08-23

09:00-10:30

Room:

K6.16

Chair:

Philippe Masson

Contribution

In recent years an increasing number of children have been diagnosed with ASD (austistic spectrum disorders). Now it is believed that 1.2% of children in Iceland have ASD (Saemundsen 2014). As with all children with SEN (special educational needs), cooperation between parents and professionals is an important factor in inclusive education and for the well being of the children and their families. Raising a child with SEN is usually a demanding and stressful task for parents. According to many research findings (e.g. Hayes & Watson 2012) this can be particulary true for parents of children with ASD. As with all children with special educational needs, good cooperation between school, family and specialists is important.

Method

This paper presents results from a small scale study on parents of children with ASD in the capital area of Iceland. It is the first step in a mixed method study using an exploratory design (Creswell 2014). The purpose of the study is to examine the cooperation between parents, school staff and professionals or institutions which provide diagnosis and support to families and schools. In this paper the focus is on the experiences of parents. Semi-structured interviews were taken with 5 parents of 6 children with ASD. The interviews were analysed according to thematic analysis. The ecological systems theory of Bronfenbrenner (1979) was used to investigate the experience of parents in cooperation with schools and professional service providers.

Expected Outcomes

The findings suggest that the nature of cooperation between schools and families differs according to children’s age at the time of diagnosis. Children with obvious symptoms of ASD are more likely to be diagnosed early, typically at preschool. Specialists work closely with the preschool and offer support to families which facilitates cooperation. However, when the child has a milder form of ASD and is therefore diagnosed later, things can be far more difficult both for the child and the family. This can have negative effects on the health and well being of the children and their parents. Without diagnosis, the child´s behavior in school can be misunderstood, and result in serious difficulties for the child and hinder cooperation between family and school. Therefore, it is important that school staff have good knowledge of ASD and know how to accommodate children that don´t “fit in the box”.

References

National Curriculum of eementary schools in Iceland (2011) Hayes & Watson (2012). The impact of Parenting stress: A meta-analysis of studies comparing the experience of parenting stress of parents with and without austism spectrum disorders. Journal of autism and developmental discord. Law of elementary education 91/2008 Sands, D.J., Kozleski, E. B., French, N. K. (2000) Inclusive education for the 21st century. Canada:Wadsworth Evald Sæmundsen (2014) Breytingar á algengi. Í Sigríður Lóa Jónsdóttir og Evald Sæmundsen (ritstj.) Litróf einhverfunnar. Reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan

Author Information

Jonina Saemundsdottir (presenting / submitting)

University of Iceland

Reykjavik

Search the ECER Programme

Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
Search for authors and in the respective field.
For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.