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Bridging the research and practice gap in autism: the importance of creating research partnerships with schools

Bridging the research and practice gap in autism: the importance of creating research partnerships with schools
Bridging the research and practice gap in autism: the importance of creating research partnerships with schools
Whilst the last ten years have seen a significant increase in research published on early intervention and autism, there is a persistent disconnect between educational research and practice. Governments have invested significant funds in autism education and a range of approaches have been implemented in schools, but there is limited research exploring whether these educational strategies are effective and a lack of involvement of teaching professionals in the research. Given that the majority of children and young people with autism spend most of their time in school and not in early or specialised intervention programmes, there is a compelling need to conduct better educational research and implement educational interventions in schools. We argue that building collaborative partnerships between researchers and school practitioners is central to achieving improved understanding of, and outcomes for, pupils on the autism spectrum. This commentary offers perspectives from teachers about their experiences of, and priorities for, research, and also presents a model of collaboration between autism school practitioners and researchers which could support a more integrated approach to research. We reflect on the strengths and challenges of this as well as outcomes achieved so far.
1362-3613
268-280
Parsons, Sarah
5af3382f-cda3-489c-a336-9604f3c04d7d
Charman, Tony
97323a9f-7557-4e52-a456-0aa0b1d4661f
Faulkner, Rachel
57abf480-3edb-4a5d-ab9b-498ec27b9384
Ragan, Jude
50dfbf90-6b4b-4a56-8994-a5ba18a1a3bd
Wallace, Simon
2bca3bc3-5b83-4544-b09e-a0e3e893dc41
Wittemeyer, Kerstin
f369ec75-79a3-46da-9bcf-01c18d9b939e
Parsons, Sarah
5af3382f-cda3-489c-a336-9604f3c04d7d
Charman, Tony
97323a9f-7557-4e52-a456-0aa0b1d4661f
Faulkner, Rachel
57abf480-3edb-4a5d-ab9b-498ec27b9384
Ragan, Jude
50dfbf90-6b4b-4a56-8994-a5ba18a1a3bd
Wallace, Simon
2bca3bc3-5b83-4544-b09e-a0e3e893dc41
Wittemeyer, Kerstin
f369ec75-79a3-46da-9bcf-01c18d9b939e

Parsons, Sarah, Charman, Tony, Faulkner, Rachel, Ragan, Jude, Wallace, Simon and Wittemeyer, Kerstin (2013) Bridging the research and practice gap in autism: the importance of creating research partnerships with schools. Autism, 17 (3), 268-280. (doi:10.1177/1362361312472068).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Whilst the last ten years have seen a significant increase in research published on early intervention and autism, there is a persistent disconnect between educational research and practice. Governments have invested significant funds in autism education and a range of approaches have been implemented in schools, but there is limited research exploring whether these educational strategies are effective and a lack of involvement of teaching professionals in the research. Given that the majority of children and young people with autism spend most of their time in school and not in early or specialised intervention programmes, there is a compelling need to conduct better educational research and implement educational interventions in schools. We argue that building collaborative partnerships between researchers and school practitioners is central to achieving improved understanding of, and outcomes for, pupils on the autism spectrum. This commentary offers perspectives from teachers about their experiences of, and priorities for, research, and also presents a model of collaboration between autism school practitioners and researchers which could support a more integrated approach to research. We reflect on the strengths and challenges of this as well as outcomes achieved so far.

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Published date: May 2013

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 345975
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/345975
ISSN: 1362-3613
PURE UUID: 79da9b06-1f7d-45e0-b1fe-240b388d0267
ORCID for Sarah Parsons: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2542-4745

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Date deposited: 10 Dec 2012 15:07
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:38

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Contributors

Author: Sarah Parsons ORCID iD
Author: Tony Charman
Author: Rachel Faulkner
Author: Jude Ragan
Author: Simon Wallace
Author: Kerstin Wittemeyer

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