Perception de soi et des relations d’amitié des adolescents présentant un trouble du spectre de l’autisme intégrés au secondaire ordinaire. Regards d’élèves, en France et au Québec

Abstract

IntroductionAn increasing number of students diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) is able to attend mainstream high schools in both France and Quebec. Over the years, this increasing number of ASD youths has come to represent a greater proportion of all children with special education needs in regular schools. However, little is known about how the French and Quebecois teenagers with ASD cope with different aspects of inclusion. For these students, whose inherent difficulties lie in social interaction and communication, taking into account social challenges of mainstreaming experience is essential. Objectives(1) Describe experiences of self-perception and friendship relationships in teenagers with ASD attending mainstream high schools in France and Quebec. (2) Examine student social representation profiles as a function of their individual characteristics and environmental variables. MethodsTwenty-three students with ASD (age range 12–16 years) participated in the study. All of them attended high school full-time, in France (n=15) and in Quebec (n=8). Youths filled out a French version of the Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents questionnaire (SPPA; Harter, 1988), and the Friendship Qualities Scale (FQS; Bukowski et al., 1994). ResultsInternal coherence of scales was satisfactory in both sets of data (Cronbach α>0.70). Cluster analyses identified 4 modes of representation on the SPPA scales: “school performance depreciating” (n=8), “school-work oriented” (n=5), “low self-esteem” (n=4) and “sociable” (n=6). The 3 FQS clusters were labeled “socially isolated” (n=8), “friendly engaged” (n=7) and “insecure with conflict” (n=8). Despite the identical mean score for “global self-worth” in both “friendly engaged” and “school-work oriented” groups, the “friendly engaged” group shows higher mean scores in almost all dimensions measured by SPPA. The results show a positive effect of social skills training on self-perception. Significant differences between profiles (for both SPPA and FQS) are found regarding (1) family sociodemographic data and (2) social and relationship sphere. This study is part of a larger doctoral research program aimed at providing a comprehensive description of school inclusion. Methods include questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with both teenagers with ASD and their parents. ConclusionThis study underscores the importance of taking into account diversity in ASD adolescent representational profiles and social adaptation strategies. Results underscore the importance of understanding friendship relationships and their influence on a satisfying self-perception. The diversity of self-evaluations of friendships and self-concept suggest that self-assertion and social skills training focusing on high functioning autistic youth's specific problems in high school mainstream programs might be an important pathway to successful inclusion and academic perseverance.