Learning with labyrinths: Neurodivergent journeying towards new concepts of care and creative pedagogy through participatory community autism research

Abstract

This paper arises from a UK research project, Playing A/Part, which explores the identities and experiences of autistic girls through creative practices and the implications for pedagogy. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the project was an interdisciplinary collaboration using mixed-measures and a creative and participatory approach to co-produce new knowledge about this under-represented group. The research engaged 77 girls, aged 11 to 16, in a range of educational settings: Special Educational Needs, mainstream, and selective. The focus of discussion is the emergence of the labyrinth as a creative tool for learning and well- being and the implications for care and learning in neurodivergent contexts. After contextualising the study in relation to research on autism and gender, the paper explains how labyrinths offered an appropriate ethical, aesthetic, and sensory space for the creative pedagogic practices within the research programme. The paper also considers the implications of the study for higher education in terms of teaching neurodivergent learners, and research approaches to autism.

Arts Education for Children with Disabilities: A Systematic Literature Review

“…The results regarding RQ2 show that the qualitative research method has been in great demand for the study of arts education for children with disabilities in the last ten years, followed by mix methods. ( Katušić & Burić, 2021), (Østergaard, 2019), (Nguyen Viet, et al, 2022), (Madrid-Manrique, 2020), (Erina et al, 2019), (Mehr et al, 2013), (Lian et al, 2020), (Bacon & Bennett, 2013), (Petsilas et al, 2019), (Carpio et al, 2017), (Shaughnessy, 2022), (Grosvenor & Pataki, 2017) 12…”

Autistic phenomenology: past, present, and potential future

“…Several principled stages in this approach can be envisaged: Co-construction: Such a project must be co-constructed collaboratively between often non-autistic researchers and autistic people themselves because, theoretically and practically, this collaboration will be necessary and because the absence of the autistic voice in a true autistic phenomenology constitutes a form of epistemic injustice, which needs to be corrected. There is now an evolving methodology to draw on Pellicano and den Houting (2022) and Shaughnessy (2022) in which autistic and non-autistic researchers can find ways to collaborate on equal terms in ways that address concerns about inequalities of power and representation in such activity, building on good practise in participatory research.…”

A participatory action research study to explore adolescents’ experiences of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) through creative workshops: a protocol

“…The data assembled through this process is a triangulation of transcripts (recorded conversations responding to prompts), art work and field notes. The creative conversations have a similar function to semi structured interviews, but the creative context offers a space in which young people are more open about their experiences [34][35][36] .This is due to the creative environment building trust as well as its liminal qualities as a space associated with freedom, multi-sensory self -expression and play. This is also key to the therapeutic benefits of such practices 37 .…”