Abstract
Whilst attendance in mainstream school helps encourage inclusivity, these environments are recognised as being particularly challenging for young people with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The COVID-19 pandemic brought a novel transition as young people moved from school to home-learning. This study compared the experiences of parents of children with ASD and co-occurring health difficulties of school-learning environments with their home-learning environments during COVID-19 lockdown. An interpretative phenomenological analysis was conducted on semi-structured interviews from six parents of children (aged 8-15 years old) with ASD. Four superordinate themes were generated: Interactions between Health, ASD and Learning Environments; School Support and Managing Health Needs; Seeking Solutions; and Learning from COVID-19 Lockdown. The study highlighted the impact of ASD and co-occurring health difficulties on learning where parents found ways to provide positive home-learning environments which could be used and/or transferred back into school environments. These results hold real-world implications where educators could treat sensory and ASD friendly environments as standard and include genuine adjustments for children with ASD and additional needs. A flexible home-learning approach using parental knowledge around environmental adjustments that support learning, wellbeing and a sense of inclusion should be prioritised for children’s overall development and wellbeing in these unprecedented times, and beyond.
Highlights
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder involving difficulties with social communication and repetitive behaviours (American Psychiatric Association, 2013)
Perhaps this is compounded by the lack of understanding and interventions for co-occurring issues in autism spectrum disorder (ASD); for example, it has been suggested that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a pharmaco-responsive psychiatric condition, yet young people with ASD and co-occurring ADHD may receive no treatment, potentially impacting on their academic performance (Joshi et al, 2017)
Materials and methods Research design A qualitative design was chosen due to its ideographic approach and ecological validity; interpretative phenomenological analysis was utilised to explore the lived experiences of parents of young people with ASD and additional health difficulties, and how this was navigated within different learning environments (Smith et al, 2009)
Summary
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder involving difficulties with social communication and repetitive behaviours (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Compared to those with ASD alone, individuals with co-occurring ADHD are more impaired in their daily living skills, have lower IQ scores, higher cognitive and social difficulties, higher anxiety and perfectionism levels (Craig et al, 2015); higher rates of hyperactivity and attention difficulties (Yerys et al, 2009); and more conduct-related issues than peers (Jang et al, 2013). Perhaps this is compounded by the lack of understanding and interventions for co-occurring issues in ASD; for example, it has been suggested that ADHD is a pharmaco-responsive psychiatric condition, yet young people with ASD and co-occurring ADHD may receive no treatment, potentially impacting on their academic performance (Joshi et al, 2017)
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