We aimed to explore the experiences of teachers, autistic students and students' parents, before and after professional development intervention for teachers in primary school. The main participants were five autistic students aged 7-11 years in three primary schools (intervention schools), their parents and teachers. Five school contexts were…

Studies investigating autistic community research priorities indicate a mismatch between what autism research focuses on and what autistic people want to see researched. Furthermore, there has not been a research priority-setting exercise specifically with autistic people in Scotland, where there are unique cultural, political and social contexts.…

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted people around the world, partly due to the restrictions it imposed on social interactions. This impact was felt to a great extent by persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and an intellectual disability (ID) who rely on 24-hour support to live in the community, and by their mothers, who remain…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a newly-developed instructional intervention of empathy and social regulation for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The Bug-out bags (BoB) intervention, designed to enhance the emotional and social competency of students with ASD. The BoB model encompassed three…

Transition from primary to secondary school is an often challenging milestone in the lives of all students. Although existing research provides insight into transition for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), research that considers transition from the perspective of students with ASD and concomitant intellectual giftedness (IG) appears…

Inclusion of autistic pupils into mainstream schools is common practice and staff should have adequate knowledge on teaching and managing classroom behaviour. However, autism knowledge among teaching staff may be inconsistent. A mixed-methods design examined differences between school staff in autism knowledge, perceived barriers to inclusion and…

This is a small-scale qualitative participatory research study conducted in two large primary schools in Ireland with classes for autistic students. The paper reports how a menu of immersive technology learning experiences was thoughtfully designed and employed with autistic children who were communicating through their behavior an aversion to the…

Using a multistage sampling technique, the students completed the self-constructed Identification Battery on Comorbid Conditions (IBCC), which assesses 10 disorders, including dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dysphasia, dyspraxia, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), autism, and tic…

The purpose of the study was to analyze the historical patterns in the relationship between specific types of disabilities and frequency of drug abuse or weapon offenses in public schools in the United States using the U.S. Department of Education Open Data Platform's (n.d.) data sets from 2011-2012 through 2020-2021. The problem is that students…

Autistic students may need individualized supports to meet their academic, social, and self-determination needs in inclusive classrooms. However, few evidence-based interventions have been developed to provide these supports for autistic adolescents, and little is known about the perceptions of autistic youth about these interventions in use in…

This qualitative study explored the processes utilized by secondary special education teachers as they plan and execute transition planning and/or goal setting for college-bound students with high incidence disabilities (HID), including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and specific learning…

People with autism are approximately twice as likely to die from drowning than members of the general population. Drowning can take place in quite small bodies of water. Therefore, acquiring good water safety skills is of the utmost importance. A systematic review of research into effective behavioural interventions for water safety and swim…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition impacting individuals' social communication and interactions. Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) have been identified as practice modalities for children with ASD. A systematic review of the literature was completed identifying 13 articles addressing the impact AAI has on the social…

Peer-mediated interventions (PMI) are implemented for skills teaching for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), particularly within the context of early learning environments. PMI have several potential advantages in comparison to adult-led intervention; however, there is a lack of research evaluating the use of PMI with younger…

Background and aims: Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been found to exhibit difficulties in "wh"-question production. It is unclear whether these difficulties are pragmatic or syntactic in nature. The current study used a question elicitation task to assess the production of subject and object "wh"-questions…