Author : Shuzi Meng
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (142 download)
Book Synopsis Supporting School-aged Girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder by : Shuzi Meng
Download or read book Supporting School-aged Girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder written by Shuzi Meng and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is currently an overall lack of literature investigating assessments and interventions for girls with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; Kirkovski et al., 2013). Females included in research investigating ASD across all age ranges represent only 15% of all participants (Watkins et al., 2014), and school-aged female participation is even fewer. Scattered coverage and inconsistent conclusions on why and how school-aged girls with an ASD diagnosis differ or may differ from their male peers in social-emotional functioning or intervention needs might consequently lead to a scarcity of literature or knowledge of the true impact on social skill intervention design and implementation for this population (Jamison et al., 2015). Researchers have shown that females diagnosed with ASD not only face a more complex social scene (Bussey & Bandura, 1999), but that they also bear more pressure to socialize in a neurotypically-normed manner compared to their male counterparts (Dean et al., 2017). The prolonged cognitive and social efforts to mask their symptoms have made females diagnosed with ASD more prone to emotional overbearing and anxiety (Cridland et al., 2014).Although gender-specific social-emotional problems are empirically supported (Dean, 2013; Van Wijingaarden-Cremers et al., 2014), it is not clear whether the existing social skill interventions sufficiently support the social needs of school-aged girls' who are diagnosed with ASD. To date, no study has attempted to investigate whether there is a necessity for gender-specific social skill intervention for school-aged girls diagnosed with ASD. The current study seeks to address this gap by qualitatively exploring whether existing social skill interventions designed for school-aged children diagnosed with ASD have provided girls diagnosed with ASD self-described benefits from these interventions. Additionally, this study aims to explore whether these intervention programs resulted in significant gender differences in the participants' social functioning post intervention. This study utilized a participatory approach to examine how social skill interventions are experienced and reflected by school-aged girls with ASD to inform future intervention development for this group. Data was collected from 18 participants from five categories (i.e., school-aged girls with ASD, adult women with ASD, caregivers/parents, school-based and community-based service providers). Each participant received a one-hour (30 minutes for girls on the spectrum) semi-structured interview following protocols designed based on Smith et al's 2009 guidelines on interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) interviews, modified per the community partner's advice on language, structure, and rapport building activities. Nineteen themes were formed and are discussed. The manifestation of autism traits and symptoms in girls remains a prominent factor of delayed and/or misdiagnosis of autism in girls. While later diagnosis certainly contributes to delayed access to social skills services for families, the diagnostic experience along with the quality of the feedback process when delivering the diagnosis were mentioned as the key reason for a deterred decision to seek services, social skill learning services included. Findings also indicated that access to social skill and social emotional learning services are delayed for females on the autism spectrum when compared to their male counterparts. Findings indicated that delayed access to services often leads to less treatment buy-in from parents and caregivers, the way services are delivered, and the treatment timeline. Many families and participants on the autism spectrum described experiences of being categorized under non-autism labels in their school-based services. The mismatch between medical autism diagnosis and the label qualified them for an IEP but were described as often leading to mismatched, ineffective supports with social skill learning services often omitted. All stakeholders mentioned the benefits of an autism diagnosis being shared with schools regardless of the type of services girls on the spectrum received (e.g., academic, social emotional, behavioral). Participants on the autism spectrum frequently reported negative social experiences associated with being placed in the regular educational classrooms including social isolation, social confusion, and need for masking. The key complaint was the lack of inclusiveness in these classrooms despite being physically placed in a regular education classroom. Participants on the autism spectrum also reported that good quality Tier 1 and Tier 2 support in social emotional teaching, sometimes to all children in the classroom, mitigated such difficulties; however, many mentioned the lack of continuity in maintaining good quality supports across different grades and classrooms, potentially due to fidelity issues in tiered system data collection. Practitioners and caregivers reported that cognitive behavioral approaches have been the most effective help for their girls on the spectrum in terms of being able to navigate their comparatively more demanding social environment. All reported finding explicitly explaining social situations with repetition to be helpful. Participants on the autism spectrum reported positive experiences with mental health providers who are/were able/willing to explicitly explain social situations to them with repetition. With that said, practitioners and parents reported having to alter manualized interventions to meet specific social needs of girls on the autism spectrum, alluding to a more complicated and demanding social environment and social dynamic for girls on the autism spectrum. The "triple whammy" situation proposed in this study is supported by the participants' accounts and was reported by all categories of stakeholders in this study. Current barriers of equitable health care in the area of social skill development and social emotional functioning were reported by the participants, including professional development challenges for school-based providers, health care system barriers, as well as systemic ableism, racism, and sexism issues. Some solutions reported included building an inclusive social environment in school classrooms, teaching inclusive skills to all children, increased cross-setting collaborations, interdisciplinary work, and strengthening family-school partnerships. This study is one of the few research studies examining the topic of quality support for school-aged girls on the autism spectrum in their social skill and social emotional development. It is also to date the first study using a participatory approach and inviting participants from all stakeholder categories to share their perspectives of this topic. Though this study aimed at investigating then gender differences in receiving social skill and social emotional support for children on the autism spectrum, it revealed an even more dire need of support in this area for this population given such supports are still rare and highly dependent on individual providers. Implications and limitation of this study are also discussed, finally, future research on this topic and other future directions are outlined.
