Can child-friendly tools support young, autistic children to better communicate about their well-being to help inform school provision?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Pupils' wellbeing in school can impact their learning, yet research into this topic is often from adults' perspectives. From a constructivist approach (where knowledge is shaped by human experience), the lack of child view on their well-being in schools is a significant gap in the literature, particularly from underrepresented groups including autistic pupils. This article is a small-scale case study with three child participants aged 7–8 years. To capture child voice, research tools were created by the participants followed by discussions to understand the student's intention. Two key themes emerged as important to well-being: social inclusion and school environment. This study demonstrates how child-created tools can be implemented in practice to truly ‘hear’ the voices of underrepresented groups. By empowering child voice in educational research, actions/implications for schools and their staff originate from the very individuals most affected, thus enabling child and school priorities to be better met.