“It just fits my needs better”: Autistic students and parents’ experiences of learning from home during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background and aims The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruption to people's lives, especially for families, whose children have been taken out of schools during lockdown restrictions and required to learn from home. Little is known, however, about the perceived impact of the lockdown restrictions on the educational experiences of autistic children and young people – a group whose conventional schooling experiences are already often challenging. In this study, we sought to (1) understand these experiences from the perspectives of autistic young people and their parents, and (2) identify the underlying sources of positive experiences at this challenging time, in order to inform the ways in which autistic children might flourish at school in more normal times. Methods Ninety-one Australian participants, including 16 autistic young people aged 12–18 years, 32 autistic parents and 43 non-autistic parents of autistic young people aged 3–18 years, took part in semi-structured interviews about their experiences of life during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The interviews were subjected to reflexive, thematic analysis to identify themes and subthemes for each research question. Results Overall, our participants initially found the transition to learning from home extremely challenging, with parents reporting that the support received from schools was far from adequate. After that initial period of transition, however, many autistic children reported flourishing at home both educationally and personally. For these children and families, we identified three key ingredients essential to this flourishing, including: (i) the importance of connected, trusting relationships (‘people’); (ii) the sensory and social safety of home (‘place’); and (iii) the flexibility to pace and structure learning to suit the individual child (‘time’). Conclusions While the initial COVID-19 lockdown presented many challenges to children learning at home, there were aspects of this otherwise-unsettling situation that enabled children to thrive and from which we can learn for the future. Implications These findings have important implications for understanding how and when autistic children might thrive in institutional educational settings once the pandemic subsides, focusing on the relationships between teachers and students, the nature of the physical learning environment and the need for greater flexibility in planning the school day.

Home schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom: The experience of families of children with neurodevelopmental conditions

“…This pattern of low satisfaction was consistent across different learning groups (e.g., home and hybrid), across the four United Kingdom nations, between children with a SEND formal recognition status and those without, and between children in mainstream schools versus those in special or alternative provision. These findings align with the recent literature (Gillespie-Smith et al, 2021;Heyworth et al, 2021). The only exception was satisfaction with COVID-19 management; this was higher for families of children in school-based learning during school restrictions in January to March of 2021.…”

Factors associated with resilience among children and youths with disability during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…There is also evidence that children and youths with specific neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID) may experience vulnerability during the pandemic [26] including reporting greater problem behaviours [27,28], worsening sleep [29], increased difficulty in daily activities [10] during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before the pandemic, suggesting a biological predictor of resilience. At the same time, these conditions, namely ASD are heterogenous, with profiles of unique strengths among individuals that may bolster positive responses to the COVID-19 pandemic for some [30]. Taken together, these studies demonstrate that children and youths with ASD and ID are potentially differentially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic; however, a study comparing them to children with other disabilities is needed.…”

Special Education in a Remote Setting: Stakeholders’ Stories and More

“…Parental support contributes to virtual learners' success. According to parent-participants in a study by Heyworth et al (2021), rapport is the key to a successful home learning engagement for children with autism.…”

“…Only then can parents avoid children's regression from poor home learning or program implementation. Structured learning at home that fits the child's schedule helps a child with autism succeed in remote learning (Heyworth et al, 2021). In their memorable experience of remote special education (GQ4), what memorable would be for the teacher-participants https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajmri Am.…”