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How did autistic children, and their parents, experience school transition during the Covid‐19 pandemic?
Author(s) -
Code Aimee,
Fox Laura,
Asbury Kathryn,
Toseeb Umar
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
british journal of special education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.349
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1467-8578
pISSN - 0952-3383
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8578.12414
Subject(s) - pandemic , thematic analysis , covid-19 , psychology , transition (genetics) , developmental psychology , perception , autism , reflexivity , qualitative research , medicine , sociology , social science , biochemistry , chemistry , disease , pathology , neuroscience , infectious disease (medical specialty) , gene
Due to the Covid‐19 pandemic, the start of the academic year in September 2020 was a unique time for those transitioning to a new school. This study aimed to explore the experiences of parents who supported autistic children making a range of different school transitions in 2020. Semi‐structured interviews were carried out with 13 parents of autistic children in the UK, and data were analyzed with reflexive thematic analysis. For some parents, the Covid‐19 pandemic negatively impacted on aspects of school transitions. However, other parents expressed the view that these same circumstances created opportunities to approach the school transition in a unique, improved manner. This article sheds light on the heterogeneity of experiences and perceptions of parents of autistic children, and highlights the need to examine the impact of Covid‐19 on school transitions, including practices that it may be advantageous to retain.