title: Parents’ perspectives on adaptive behaviour changes in their child with autism following their transition to school
Creators: name: Poulsen, Rebecca Elizabeth
Publisher: name: Griffith University
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Autistic children, Transitioning to school
subject: Autistic children, Behavioural changes
subject: Child willingness
subject: Quality stakeholder engagement
subject: School-wide support
subject: Adaptive behaviour
subject: Transition to school

description: Purpose: Transitioning to school is one of the biggest changes in a child’s life. A successful transition can have an impact on future educational outcomes. Transition support is an educational need for a child with autism. There are many simultaneous changes in the environment and expectations placed on the child in the new environment, which can affect adaptive behaviour development. The aim of this study is to explore parents’ perceptions of the changes in a child’s adaptive functioning during the transition to school. Determining the reasons behind these changes can provide important insight into how the child is coping throughout the transition. Method: This study set out to qualitatively explore parent perspectives through semistructured interviews. The participants were 14 parents with a child with autism in the first year of school. Each parent was asked about their child’s transition to school including any perceived changes in the areas of daily living skills, social abilities, and language and communication skills; and possible explanations for any reported changes. The interviews were recorded then transcribed and underwent thematic analysis. Results: Three themes emerged from the thematic analysis. The themes represent factors that influenced changes in adaptive behaviour, as perceived by parents. Theme one was child willingness. Parents stated that when their child showed a desire to participate in school life there were gains in adaptive behaviour development. Theme two was quality stakeholder engagement, which captures the roles that each key stakeholder had when supporting adaptive behaviour during the transition. The role of the parent was coordinating the transition and advocating strategies for the transition to school. This included preparing a transition timeline and coordinating and advocating for high quality communication with educators. The educator’s role was as the collaborator and the implementer to support adaptive behaviour during the transition. This role involved developing high quality collaborative relationships with the parent, the child’s team, and the child’s preschool educators. Following this, the educator’s role was to implement any agreed individualised support strategies, utilising resources, and addressing the core characteristics of the child including adaptive behaviour to ensure inclusion while transitioning to the new school environment. Theme three was school-wide support. This theme defined the school’s role as the supplier and enabler of funding and environmental support during the transition, meeting the needs of the child and all the key stakeholders. Conclusion: Factors affecting adaptive behaviour development during the transition to school for a child with autism can be represented as an integrated model of support for a child-centred transition, starting with child willingness, extending to active engagement of parents as coordinators and collaborators, and teachers as collaborators and implementers, with all parties being supported through the supplying and enabling role of the school. The results are represented as an integrated model of support. These results highlight the value of identifying roles and responsibilities that ensure quality engagement of all involved, with a prepared transition to school using a transition timeline, child profile and the integrated model of support, to give the best opportunity for positive outcomes. Strategies for supporting child willingness, adaptive behaviour development and key stakeholders’ roles are discussed, along with implications for future practice and future research.