La perception d’adolescents ayant un trouble du spectre de l’autisme lors du passage au secondaire comparée à celle de leurs pairs

Abstract

Le passage vers le secondaire est une étape importante dans la vie des adolescents. En effet, cette transition survient au moment où les jeunes adolescents doivent composer avec plusieurs changements physiques, émotifs et intellectuels. La transition vers le secondaire peut contribuer à l’émergence de troubles de santé mentale. Alors que les écrits scientifiques font état de plusieurs études sur le passage vers le secondaire, peu s’intéressent à la perception des élèves ayant un trouble du spectre de l’autisme (TSA) vivant le passage vers le secondaire. Cette étude vise à décrire la perception de 14 élèves ayant un TSA intégrés en classe ordinaire comparé à celle de 14 de leurs pairs quant à leurs craintes, leurs anticipations positives et les moyens pouvant faciliter le passage vers le secondaire. Pour ce faire, une entrevue semi-structurée a été réalisée auprès des participants. Par la suite, des tests de McNemar ont été utilisés pour comparer les réponses des deux groupes. Les résultats indiquent qu’il n’existe pas de différence significative quant aux craintes, aux anticipations positives et les moyens susceptibles d’être aidants lors du passage vers le secondaire chez les deux groupes. Ainsi, il est recommandé d’adopter une attitute normalisante auprès de cette clientèle.The transition to high school is an important milestone in the life of a teenager, which concurrently takes place with other physical, emotional and intellectual changes. The changes in this transitioning period potentially contribute to the emergence of mental health problems. While the literature includes many studies regarding students’ transition to high school, none has discussed this among students with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study aims to describe the perception of 14 students with ASD who are integrated into an ordinary classroom in comparison to 14 of their peers regarding their fears, their positive expectations and the means that may potentially facilitate the transition to high school. To this end, McNemar tests were used to compare the responses of both groups. The results indicate that there is no significant difference between each group pertaining to their fears, positive expectations and elements that would be helpful. Thus, it is recommended to adopt a normative stand with this clientele

Is transition an (adult) problem? – experiences of autistic students during the transition from primary to secondary school

“…The results show that, in general, neither the fears before the transition nor the actual transition experience itself differed from what students without special needs described in existing international research. Being afraid of getting lost in the new building, having a higher workload or not making new friends are reported by studies on students with or without ASD (Mackenzie, McMaugh and O'Sullivan, 2012; Bailey, Giles and Rogers, 2015; Leroux‐Boudreault and Poirier, 2017; Makin et al. , 2017; Cantali, 2019).…”

“…Studies showed that there can be differences in the friendships of autistic and non‐autistic students, but also underlined that autistic students often long for and are able to form reciprocal and meaningful friendships. Nevertheless, teasing, bullying, manipulation and exclusion are phenomena that risk to hinder the development and maintenance of positive relationships (Kasari et al ., 2011; Rowley et al ., 2012; Calder, Hill and Pellicano, 2013; Dean et al ., 2014; Schroeder et al ., 2014; Leroux‐Boudreault and Poirier, 2017; Makin, Hill and Pellicano, 2017).…”

“…The transition is characterised by a number of changes: new and often larger buildings, new and more teachers, higher workload, new classmates, new subjects, etc . In this context, research acknowledges that students with special needs and autistic students, in particular, are likely to encounter more difficulties during the transition than their peers without special needs (Humphrey and Lewis, 2008; Hebron, 2017; Leroux‐Boudreault and Poirier, 2017; Makin, Hill and Pellicano, 2017; Bruck, Webster and Clark, 2021).…”