Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, London N1 9JH, UK; UCL Institute of Education, Group for Research in Relationships and Neurodiversity-GRRAND, Department of Psychology and Human Development, London WC1H 0AA, UK.
UCL Institute of Education, Group for Research in Relationships and Neurodiversity-GRRAND, Department of Psychology and Human Development, London WC1H 0AA, UK.
Res Dev Disabil. 2022 Oct;129:104323. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2022.104323. Epub 2022 Aug 18.
Recent autism research has evidenced a shift from psychological outcomes to contextualised approaches to understanding the varying needs of non autistic siblings of autistic children across different systems. Yet, there is limited research exploring the lived experiences of siblings in their school context.
First, a group of school aged sibling advisors worked with the first author to codesign research aims, methods and dissemination practices around the topic of the school experiences of siblings who grow up with an autistic brother or sister in the UK. Then, 28 school-aged siblings of autistic children completed adapted photo-elicitation interviews, to discuss their school experiences. A background questionnaire was also administered to their parents and carers.
Thematic analysis was employed. The master themes included: (i) Impact of home experiences in schoolwork, including limited personal time and sleep disruptions (ii) Siblings' school interactions impact on overall school experience, including a wide range of both typical and difficult experiences such as school day disruptions, (iii) Varied perceived levels of support and understanding, including emotional and/or educational support by family members and a sense of connectedness with peers and teachers who are autistic themselves or connected to someone with a diagnosis of autism.
The results underline the ways home experiences can have an impact on school life of siblings, the positive contribution of the autistic school staff and/or staff who have an autistic family member and the need for an organisational culture of inclusivity and widespread acceptance and awareness around issues of neurodiversity. Our findings suggest several implications for school psychologists in core functions of the educational psychologists' role including training, consultation, assessment, and whole school support.
The datasets generated for this study are not readily available because they include sensitive data (photos of siblings' houses, family members, personal objects, and school timetables). Requests to access the datasets should be directed to corresponding author.
最近的自闭症研究表明，人们的研究重点已经从心理学结果转移到了更具情境性的方法，以了解不同系统中自闭症儿童的非自闭症兄弟姐妹的不同需求。然而，关于兄弟姐妹在学校环境中的生活体验，相关研究仍然有限。
首先，一组学龄期兄弟姐妹顾问与第一作者合作，围绕英国自闭症儿童的兄弟姐妹在学校的经历这一主题，共同设计研究目标、方法和传播实践。然后，28 名自闭症儿童的学龄期兄弟姐妹完成了经过改编的照片启发式访谈，以讨论他们的学校经历。还向他们的父母和照顾者发放了一份背景问卷。
采用了主题分析。主要主题包括：（i）家庭经历对学业的影响，包括个人时间有限和睡眠中断；（ii）兄弟姐妹在学校的互动对整体学校经历的影响，包括各种典型和困难的经历，如扰乱学校日；（iii）不同程度的感知支持和理解，包括家庭成员的情感和/或教育支持，以及与自身为自闭症或与自闭症诊断患者有关联的同伴和教师的联系感。
研究结果强调了家庭经历对兄弟姐妹学校生活的影响方式、自闭症学校工作人员和/或有自闭症家庭成员的工作人员的积极贡献，以及需要包容性的组织文化以及对神经多样性问题的广泛接受和认识。我们的研究结果为学校心理学家在教育心理学家角色的核心功能中提出了几个建议，包括培训、咨询、评估和全校支持。
本研究生成的数据集由于包含敏感数据（兄弟姐妹的房屋、家庭成员、个人物品和学校时间表的照片）而无法直接公开。访问数据集的请求应直接发送给相应的作者。
