Creatively supporting the transition from primary to secondary school for and with autistic girls

Abstract

Autistic children are currently being let down by the school system. They are more likely to be excluded and to suffer from poor mental health, and less likely to achieve their academic potential than their non-autistic peers. Evidence shows that the transition from primary to secondary school is particularly challenging for autistic children, but their own perspectives and particularly those of autistic girls, are underrepresented in the literature. This research aimed to promote the voices of autistic girls by working creatively within a participatory framework to support the embodied exploration of their experiences. The following research questions were addressed: What do autistic girls feel are the barriers to successful transition from primary to secondary school? How can creative data collection and analysis methods promote the voices of autistic girls? What are the challenges and benefits of including autistic girls in participatory research? There were four phases to the research: (1) pilot studies; (2) establishing a participatory group to creatively explore school experiences; (3) co-creating and evaluating school resources; (4) reflecting on the experience of participatory research. First, a pilot study was conducted with five children with special educational needs (including autism) to investigate the value of using a novel Body Mapping method for exploring embodied experiences. This is a creative method of data collection, which has not been used with autistic children before. Having established the advantages of the method and adjusted it for online use, a participatory research group was created – Fizzacc - which included six autistic girls aged 13 – 18 who met weekly online over the course of one academic year. The meetings involved exploring transition experiences and creating resources to support future cohorts based on group members’ lived experiences. Data was analysed collectively using a novel method that Fizzacc devised to address the Double Empathy problem in autism research, and to prioritise the voices of the group. This analysis showed that educating staff and pupils about autism in girls was a priority and that autistic strengths as well as challenges were important to include in materials that could be shared with schools. The data was then used to help create resources for schools, including a presentation and lesson activities aimed at raising awareness of autistic girls’ strengths and challenges. Resources were trialled in three schools which provided feedback from 263 pupils and seven staff members gathered using feedback forms, interviews, and focus groups. Pupil and teacher feedback showed that the resources were favourably received, well-designed, and informative. Finally, reflexive thematic analysis was used to identify the challenges and benefits for the group members of working on a participatory research project together. Fizzacc members were empowered by their involvement in the research. Working creatively in a group to share common experiences for a common purpose was a positive experience. Together, the findings support the value of working creatively with autistic girls to address the issues that are important to them, and Body Mapping is a method which empowers the exploration of embodied experiences. There is potency in including the voices of autistic girls in resources to raise awareness for school staff and peers about their experiences. Improving education to allow autistic girls to flourish demands that their voices be central within the dialogue, and school staff need to be more aware of how to best support neurodivergent children in their classroom, whether or not they have a formal diagnosis.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Chloe East: orcid.org/0000-0001-5736-1411

ORCID for Hanna Kovshoff: orcid.org/0000-0001-6041-0376

ORCID for Sarah Parsons: orcid.org/0000-0002-2542-4745

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