Tagavi Daina M, Kim Emily S, Locke Jill
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2025 Jun 11. doi: 10.1007/s10803-025-06916-7.
This study explored the structured and unstructured social opportunities available to autistic students in public elementary schools. Specifically, it examined the amount and types of social opportunities provided by teachers, as well as the relationship between grade level and pull-out special education support on these opportunities.
Participants included 27 autistic students from 12 public elementary schools. Teachers provided student school schedules, which were coded to quantify structured (e.g., small group work) and unstructured (e.g., recess) peer interaction opportunities. Descriptive analyses were conducted to determine the amount and types of social opportunities, and linear regressions examined whether grade level and pull-out special education support predicted teacher-reported time spent in these activities.
On average, teachers reported that students spent 62.4 min per day (~ 17% of the school day) in unstructured social activities and 114.8 min per day (~ 31% of the school day) in structured social activities. Grade level significantly predicted unstructured social time, with students in grades K-2 receiving more unstructured peer opportunities than those in grades 3-5. However, grade level did not predict structured social time, and pull-out special education support was not a significant predictor of either structured or unstructured social time.
These findings underscore the importance of teacher-facilitated peer interactions during unstructured times in early elementary years and point to opportunities for embedding social supports within these naturalistic contexts. Given the substantial amount of structured social time teachers report planning for their students, interventions leveraging these interactions may also support social development. Future research should examine the quality of these social interactions and their long-term impact on autistic students' peer relationships and social outcomes.
本研究探讨了公立小学中自闭症学生可获得的结构化和非结构化社交机会。具体而言，研究考察了教师提供的社交机会的数量和类型，以及年级水平和课外特殊教育支持与这些机会之间的关系。
研究对象包括来自12所公立小学的27名自闭症学生。教师提供了学生的学校日程安排，对其进行编码以量化结构化（如小组作业）和非结构化（如课间休息）的同伴互动机会。进行描述性分析以确定社交机会的数量和类型，并通过线性回归检验年级水平和课外特殊教育支持是否能预测教师报告的学生在这些活动中花费的时间。
教师平均报告称，学生每天在非结构化社交活动中花费62.4分钟（约占在校时间的17%），在结构化社交活动中花费114.8分钟（约占在校时间的31%）。年级水平显著预测了非结构化社交时间，幼儿园至二年级的学生比三至五年级的学生获得更多的非结构化同伴互动机会。然而，年级水平并不能预测结构化社交时间，课外特殊教育支持也不是结构化或非结构化社交时间的显著预测因素。
这些发现强调了在小学低年级非结构化时间里教师促进同伴互动的重要性，并指出了在这些自然情境中融入社会支持的机会。鉴于教师报告为学生规划了大量的结构化社交时间，利用这些互动的干预措施也可能支持社交发展。未来的研究应考察这些社交互动的质量及其对自闭症学生同伴关系和社交成果的长期影响。
