The importance of Early Intervention for children with Autism has been established however little attention has been given to the role of the parent and their perspective (Griffin & Shevlin, 2011). Research on Early Intervention has proliferated and innovative research on involving parents as partners has emerged (Carpenter, 2007; Hornby, 2011), however parents’ experiences of assessment, diagnosis and education have received little attention. This study investigated parental perceptions of Early Intervention services for children with significant disabilities. The purpose of this article is to describe how parents experience assessment, diagnosis and education, exploring the potential of utulising a parental lens in grasping these perspectives. It explored parents’ need to negotiate services and the difficulties surrounding their children's education in mainstream settings. Through qualitative, longitudinal, in‐depth case studies, parents (n 6) were interviewed over a fifteen month period. Interviews coincided with school terms. A major point of difference is the presence of parent voice. This research is dedicated to eliciting parents’ voice and exploring how this may influence current understandings of Early Intervention in Ireland. This research suggests that we need to explore what is needed by parents according to those parents, by acknowledging parent voice. Early Intervention and school settings may be a site of reconfiguration of parenthood where mutually, supportive mechanisms may confront the obscurities associated with their role and the fact that they are seldom heard.
When considering the parent voice as an individual subjective reality, it is observed as unique to the parent and not shared by others. This research sought to explore if parent voices could constitute intersubjective realities; inviting narratives from parents and professionals that may reveal a shared existence. The first theme explored the journeys of the parent as a nomad in their search for services to support their children. The second theme describes the position of the parent during the period of their child’s assessment, diagnosis and intervention, as that of ‘in-betweenness’. The third theme describes parents’ experiences as those of journeys, during which their identities change. Qualitative, in-depth, longitudinal case studies were undertaken with parents of young children with ASD and professionals over eighteen months. Semi-structured interviews (n-83) were conducted. Autoethnography was critical as a methodological tenet in defense of a position that states that research is an extension of our lives. The findings of this research show evidence of parental isolation and marginalization when procuring services for their children or when children failed to experience inclusion. This research suggests that nomads navigate (difficult) ways of forming new multiple selves and identities.
This research designed a peer-mediated play programme for reducing anxiety for children aged 4 to 6 years with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) based on a scoping review in preparation of a systematic literature review. Specifically, the research sought to identify the prevalence of concurrent anxiety disorders and autism spectrum disorder, and the needs of children with comorbid anxiety and ASD. The methodology utilised a scoping review of the literature regarding the available non-pharmacological play-based intervention to reduce anxiety in children with concurrent anxiety and ASD. Six databases were selected, and search terms included “autism“, “anxiety”, “worry”, “children”, “intervention”, “group”, “therapy”, “peer”, “lego”, “duplo”, and “play therapy”. Results showed that the majority of the approaches were cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) (41), one Lego-Based Therapy, and eight play-based approaches. This paper will report on the effectiveness of the eight other approaches which has never been discussed. Based on these findings, we propose an innovative, overarching group intervention to be conducted in school settings. This research makes a valuable contribution to knowledge in the area of early intervention and ASD studies. It expands the scope of Universal Design by applying a UDL framework to early intervention. It also proposes an overarching framework to place children in their bio-ecological context and incorporate neurodiversity, contributing to Hong Kong, Ireland and beyond.
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