Search

Autistic children comprise a large group of young people who are looked-after by their local authority and for whom educational outcomes are amongst the poorest of all children in care. Virtual School Heads (VSHs) in England have a statutory responsibility to improve the educational outcomes of children in care following the implementation of the Children and Families Act 2014. However, very little is known about the experiences of VSHs in supporting autistic children in care, including whether and how knowledge about autism diagnosis is shared within interprofessional teams. This qualitative study reports the findings from nine semi-structured interviews with eight VSHs and one occupational therapist from eight local authorities in England. VSHs worked within multiple and diverse teams locally and nationally to co-ordinate and manage effective provision but reported that knowledge about autism was often uncertain and conflated with attachment difficulties. They could not state with confidence that individuals around the child were sufficiently enabled to provide appropriate support and educational provision. The VSH, and the children they support, occupy liminal roles which create challenges for effective communication and support. Crucially, young people's views need to be authentically gathered and holistically understood to inform and improve provision.

The knowledge of children with special educational needs and disabilities, and their families, is essential for informing educational transition planning and decision-making. However, often their views are marginalised through formalised processes and assessments which underestimate children's capabilities and prioritise professional knowledge. We draw upon a project in an early years setting that involved five young autistic children, their families, and practitioners in the creation of Digital Stories as the children prepared for the transition to school. Parents and practitioners contributed exemplary (practical) knowledge and children contributed embodied knowledge about the things that mattered to them. We analysed the Stories to find out what we learned about the children through taking these different perspectives. Children's embodied knowledge revealed their voices, interests and capabilities, with a focus on the spaces where they liked to be and who they chose to spend time with (including themselves). Parents and practitioners shared knowledge about the objects and interests of the child, the choices they make, and where support is needed. Taken together, the Stories provide a holistic view of the child that moves beyond difficulties and challenges. The Stories could be an important tool for professionals and families for supporting children's transitions.

Reviews have called for the greater involvement of autistic young people in developing methods for eliciting their views. Methodologically, co-design is important for developing credible and acceptable approaches; conceptually and practically, co-design offers a means through which to address the double empathy problem for research and practice, which states that autistic people have difficulties understanding the perspectives and communication of non-autistic people, and vice versa. This study reports both methodological and pedagogical observations through critical reflections on a co-design process of a paper-based method for sharing information about sensory preferences with six autistic students aged 12-13 years, 16 educational practitioners, and five autistic adults. The co-design process supported students to share information with each other and build self-awareness. Participants were positive about the potential for sharing information but raised concerns about the extent to which new knowledge would impact on teaching practices. Co-designed methods are needed in tandem with sustained action to increase autism awareness to change attitudes and educational practices.

Concerns have been raised about the quality of practice-focused research in education generally and in early years education specifically. Chris Pascal and Tony Bertram argue that a shift in worldview is needed to improve the robustness and overall quality of participatory research in the early years and proposed a "praxeological framework" for research comprising praxis, power, values, and methodology. This paper provides an example of how this praxeological framework was applied within an existing research-practice partnership focusing on autism education in the early years. We used a "non-orthodox" Digital Storytelling methodology to co-construct knowledge between researchers, practitioners, children and families about educational transitions. Our co-construction of knowledge involved the embodied knowledge of children and the exemplary (practical) knowledge of families and practitioners, leading to new insights into educational practices. In adopting a knowledge co-creation approach from the start, we established a powerful pathway to impact through which our research is already making a difference to practice. We propose that pathway to impact is an important element that could be made more explicit within a praxeological framing of research.

Approximately 1.3% (42,555 pupils) of secondary school pupils in England are autistic and there are numerous reports of poor academic and social experiences among this group. The intense interests that form part of an autism diagnosis relate to an increased focus on specific topics or objects and are reported to positively impact learning when effectively embedded into teaching. However, there is very little research into how interests may be used to support learning in secondary schools and little analysis of whether the utilisation of intense interests is conceptualised and implemented as an inclusive practice. This scoping review explored how intense interests are used to support the learning of autistic adolescents and provides a conceptual analysis of the six papers identified, all from the United States. Three applications of intense interests were reported: power cards, lunch clubs and responding to joint attention. A within-child, deficit-focused perspective was consistent throughout all papers, with the aim being to improve the 'appropriate' target behaviour of autistic children. There is limited research overall, and so further research is needed to examine how intense interests can be implemented in practice in more inclusive ways.

Background & aims: There is increasing recognition of the importance of challenging deficit-focused, medical model approaches to supporting autistic people in daily life, however there is a lack of inclusion of autistic perspectives to inform approaches that may empower autistic people in conversations. Methods: This multiple case study used a participatory approach to explore the conversation experiences and exchange in dyads of five autistic and five non-autistic adults over four to 12 months. The study was grounded in the perspectives of autistic people through a series of semi-structured interviews, observations, reflective conversations, and diary records. Results: The findings focus on autistic participants' existing knowledge of conversations that they reported could be useful to them, including the communication environment, and type and structure of talk. The study also helped participants to identify and use previously unrecognised metacognitive abilities (what they already knew about conversations) within naturalistic interactive contexts. Conclusions: These findings provide novel insights as to how the 'interactional expertise' of non-autistic people could be strengthened to enable the effective contribution of the voices of autistic people in everyday conversations. Implications: The identification and use of successful conversation strategies identified by autistic adults gave them a greater sense of empowerment within the conversation based on their accounts of their experiences. Understanding these strategies has valuable implications for staff training, for working with families and for learning by autistic adults.

ObjectiveTo describe the similarities and differences in the evaluation and treatment of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) at hospitals in the US.Study designWe conducted a cross-sectional survey from June 16 to July 16, 2020, of US children's hospitals regarding protocols for management of patients with MIS-C. Elements included characteristics of the hospital, clinical definition of MIS-C, evaluation, treatment, and follow-up. We summarized key findings and compared results from centers in which >5 patients had been treated vs those in which ≤5 patients had been treated.ResultsIn all, 40 centers of varying size and experience with MIS-C participated in this protocol survey. Overall, 21 of 40 centers required only 1 day of fever for MIS-C to be considered. In the evaluation of patients, there was often a tiered approach. Intravenous immunoglobulin was the most widely recommended medication to treat MIS-C (98% of centers). Corticosteroids were listed in 93% of protocols primarily for moderate or severe cases. Aspirin was commonly recommended for mild cases, whereas heparin or low molecular weight heparin were to be used primarily in severe cases. In severe cases, anakinra and vasopressors frequently were recommended; 39 of 40 centers recommended follow-up with cardiology. There were similar findings between centers in which >5 patients vs ≤5 patients had been managed. Supplemental materials containing hospital protocols are provided.ConclusionsThere are many similarities yet key differences between hospital protocols for MIS-C. These findings can help healthcare providers learn from others regarding options for managing MIS-C.

The real-world navigation of ethics-in-practice versus the bureaucracy of institutional ethics remains challenging. This is especially true for research with children and young people who may be considered vulnerable by the policies and procedures of ethics committees but agentic by researchers. Greater transparency is needed about how this tension is navigated in practice to provide confidence and effective strategies for social researchers, including those new to the field, for negotiating informed consent. Twenty-three social science researchers with a range of experience were interviewed about their practices for gaining informed consent from children and young people in social research and the development of their 'ethics in practice' over time. Main themes focused on navigating ethics protocols within institutions, practices to prepare for data collection, and a critical evaluation of the resources that can be applied to gaining consent and managing relationships. A range of methods and concrete steps that address ethical challenges are outlined to illustrate what can be done in practice to achieve authentic consent and appropriate participation.

Aims: 'I am…' Digital Stories are short videos designed to provide a holistic, strengths-based representation of the child through enabling them to contribute their perspectives to transition planning. Digital Stories have potential during periods in which professionals are unable to physically visit settings or spend time getting to know a child. This paper describes the use of Digital Stories in two contexts: (1) being shown at the beginning of person-centred planning meetings focusing on the transition to primary school; and (2) as a tool to support educational psychologists conducting Education, Health, and Care Needs Assessments for preschool children during COVID-19. Method: Data was collected via seven semi-structured interviews, 15 feedback forms, and videos of four meetings. Participants comprised six parents/carers, five nursery practitioners, three school staff members, and six educational psychologists. Thematic analysis resulted in five main themes: thinking differently; a wider conversation; more than words; seeing what they see; and potential barriers to making Digital Stories. Limitations: Children were not able to make their own Digital Stories, which could have influenced their representation within the videos, transition meetings and assessments. However, children's body worn camera footage was included, enabling a perspective on their interactions and preferences that was closer to the child's worldview than other observational methods. Conclusions: Digital Stories have a variety of benefits to practice, including being useful to educational psychologists during assessments, and have the potential to facilitate successful transitions from nursery to primary school.

Young autistic children are amongst the most scrutinised and assessed in their everyday lives, often leading to characterisations and descriptions that focus on their difficulties and challenges rather than on their abilities, strengths and positive experiences. Consequently, much discussion about autistic children tends to forget that they are children first. While research has considered the transitions of autistic children from primary to secondary school, and from secondary to post-compulsory contexts, there is almost no research focusing on transitions for young autistic children from nursery to primary schools. There is also very limited representation of their voices and experiences being explored, promoted, and valued directly as evidence in their own right. We aimed to address this gap through a project funded by the Froebel Trust and co-constructed with practitioners and families. The project used an innovative Digital Storytelling methodology to explore the experiences and perspectives of five 4-year-old autistic children, and their families, as the children prepared to make the transition from an inclusive day nursery to primary school. This paper provides an overview of the rationale, methodology, and findings of the project to address two related questions: How do we listen to those children who 'have no words'?; and what do we learn from them when we do?

Involving students on the autism spectrum in decision-making about their education is good practice for inclusion and mandated by the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice in England. This article reports on two linked studies investigating the perspectives of 12 secondary mainstream students on the autism spectrum aged 11-15 years, and their teachers (n = 10), about teaching and support. Students and teachers agreed that staff members were more likely to focus on the needs of the class rather than the needs of the individual student, which could be very difficult to navigate successfully. In addition, students emphasised the importance of feeling understood and supported in school. However, differences in sensory perceptions and communication meant that students sometimes felt misunderstood by staff, leading to feelings of hurt and frustration. This suggests it is important to understand the needs of individual students on the autism spectrum, and adapt teaching and pastoral strategies accordingly, in order to promote an appropriately inclusive educational environment.

Resourced provision is an important model for inclusive education, possibly providing the 'best of both worlds' for pupils with Special Educational Needs. Typically, pupils split their time between specialist and mainstream classes, offering balanced support that is highly valued by parents. However, there is little research about resourced provision from the perspectives of the pupils. This small-scale study explored how children and teachers experience resourced provision and manage the daily transitions between activities and classes. A qualitative visual storyboard methodology was co-created between the researchers and school staff and used to access the views of five pupils on the autism spectrum aged 9-11 years about their everyday experiences, including transitions between special and mainstream classes; six staff members from the resource base were also interviewed. Findings highlighted the importance of friendship and peers; where and how support was provided; tensions between structured and unstructured periods; and student/school identity. The school has implemented changes to how daily transitions are supported in response to pupils' views, with positive impacts on practice. The storyboard method is a simple and adaptable approach that can enable children to share their views in research and practice.