This research roundup showcases recent research regarding education and how autisticAutistic ways of being are human neurological variants that can not be understood without the social model of disability.If you are wondering whether you are Autistic, spend time amongst Autistic people, online and offline.  If… More communityWhat I have always been hoping to accomplish is the creation of community.Community is magic. Community is power. Community is resistance.Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century https://www.amazon.com/Disability-Visibility-First-Person-Stories-Twenty-First-ebook/dp/B082ZQBL98/ https://www.amazon.com/Disability-Visibility-Adapted-Young-Adults-ebook/dp/B08VFT4R9T/… More improves educational outcomes.

THE ICARS REPORT ENGLAND: Restraint and Seclusion in England’s Schools

Restraint is a tool of control that conditions teachers to be unfazed by traumaIn expanding our definitions of trauma, we must make sure we see trauma as a structural issue, not just an individual one. Scholars now recognize what people from marginalized communities… More in the name of complianceNoncompliance is a social skill.Noncompliance is one of the most important social skills. Noncompliance skills make it possible to say no, even when others want your right to say no to… More.

• Behavioural approaches are being implemented to manage behaviours associated with disability
• Rather than supporting accommodationAccommodation is fundamentally about not changing the person but changing the environment around the person.Normal Sucks: Author Jonathan Mooney on How Schools Fail Kids with Learning Differences Yet on a programmatic… More needs in the school, children are punished for behaviours associated with their disabilities
• Educators lack education and training in disability-affirming practices contributing to a culture that prioritizes control and policing of behaviours that are a reaction to being under-accommodated
• Research into the factors that contribute to the use of restraint indicate that prioritising psychological safetyPsychological safety is a condition in which you feel (1) included, (2) safe to learn, (3) safe to contribute, and (4) safe to challenge the status quo—all without fear of… More and creating an inclusive culture are how to eliminate the use of restraint

ICARS Report – International Coalition Against Restraint and Seclusion

Autistic Adults as Educators – Exploring Parent Perceptions of Autistic Presenters

As we move towards a more connected society, information has become easier to access, digest, and disseminate. Through this process of increased connectivity, minority voices have gained access to spaces that were previously unavailable(Ashing et al., 2017). Understanding the ‘lived experience’ of minority groups has provided insight to broader stakeholder groups and helped improve services and outcomes (Bernard & Harris, 2019; Corby, Taggart, & Cousins, 2018; McAuliffe, Upshur, Sellen, & Di Ruggiero, 2019; Mouchet, Morgan, & Thomas, 2019; van Zelst, 2020). Autistic voices, often conspicuously absent from the narrativeWhen we successfully reframe public discourse, we change the way the public sees the world. We change what counts as common sense. Because language activates frames, new language is required… More of their experiences, have been amplified by both autistic and non-autistic populations. For example, the past five years have seen a call to increased autistic inclusion in research (Nicolaidis et al., 2019), a rise in media representation (Wolff, 2018),and an increased presence in social media (Beykikhoshk, Arandjelović, Phung, Venkatesh, & Caelli, 2015).

This study is the first to explore how parents of autistic children perceive information from autistic adult presenters. Each of the seven participants reported a positive experience attending the presentations of autistic adults and wished to hear more information as a result. Additionally, parents attributed changes in their parenting behaviors and attitudes to insight gained from these experiences. For example, many parents began using and promoting identity-first languageIdentity-first language places the disability-related word first in a phrase. People who prefer identity-first language for themselves often argue that their disability is an important part of who they are,… More, implementing various sensory tools, and taking a step back to understand some of their child’s behaviors as communication of anxiety or a need.

While the idea of autistic people as educators may be simplistic in nature, the concept of having autistic adults share their experiences, expertise and knowledge is not yet mainstream. Organizations and educational institutions should work with autistic adults and autistic research networks to provide spaces where parents of autistic children and autistic adults can come together to help provide support for families who are raising autistic children. One of the parents in the study summarized this need, stating“it’s important to keep offering these experiences to community members because, if we don’t provide the platform for autistic adults to speak, we’re never going to hear them.”

View of Autistic Adults as Educators

‘It’s being a part of a grand tradition, a grand counter-culture which involves communities’: A qualitative investigation of autistic community connectedness

A sense of being connected to other autistic people has been reported anecdotally. Friendships and connectedness may be important to autistic people and beneficial for their wellbeing. Our research aimed to understand the autistic community by interviewing 20 autistic people about their experiences of being connected to other autistic people. Participants were interviewed in person, over video, using a text-based software to type or over email. Participants detailed three parts of autistic community connectedness: a sense of belonging, social connection with autistic friends and political connectedness. The friendships autistic people had with one another were deemed to be very important to participants because it gave them confidence, provided companionship and made them happy. Some participants did not experience connectedness to the autistic community. These participants also found autism to be less important to their identity and had fewer positive feelings about being autistic. This research is important as it raises awarenessAcceptance means training mental health service providers to look at autism and other disabilities as a part of a person’s identity, rather than a problem that needs to be fixed. Acceptance… More that community connectedness is viewed as important to this group. It is possible that community connectedness may help protect the mental health of autistic people when they face stigma or negative life experiences in society.

‘It’s being a part of a grand tradition, a grand counter-culture which involves communities’: A qualitative investigation of autistic community connectedness – Monique Botha, Bridget Dibb, David M Frost, 2022

A Human Centered Education: Ends Dehumanizing Practices

Where behaviorismUltimately behaviorism provides a simplistic lens that can’t see beyond itself.Why is the doctrine of behaviorism still being used, at all?How can ABA be the gold-standard for autism when it… More fails to foster agency it simultaneously creates a framework for excluding neurodivergentNeurodivergent, sometimes abbreviated as ND, means having a mind that functions in ways which diverge significantly from the dominant societal standards of “normal.”NEURODIVERSITY: SOME BASIC TERMS & DEFINITIONS Neurodivergent is quite… More and disabledThe label “disabled” means so much to me. It means I have community. It means I have rights. It means I can be proud. It means I can affirm myself… More students while enabling the policing of students from non-dominant cultural, linguistic, and racial backgrounds.

A Human Centered Education: Ends Dehumanizing Practices – YouTube

Come as You Are: Examining Autistic Identity Development and the Neurodiversity Movement through an Intersectional Lens

As we learn more about the twisted origins of the diagnostic category “autism,” it becomes increasingly unsurprising that many autistic people have called for a fundamental shift in how autism research and practice are conducted. A central premise of our paper is that autistic people have reframed the diagnostic category “autism,” once conceptualized as an innate inability to connect socially, into a social identity which they use as a rallying call for collective action, often under the banner of the neurodiversityNeurodiversity is the diversity of human minds, the infinite variation in neurocognitive functioning within our species.NEURODIVERSITY: SOME BASIC TERMS & DEFINITIONS Neurodiversity is a biological fact. It’s not a perspective, an approach, a… More movement (Kapp, 2020).

Come as You Are: Examining Autistic Identity Development and the Neurodiversity Movement through an Intersectional Lens – FullText – Human Development 2022, Vol. 66, No. 2 – Karger Publishers

A guide to neurodiversity in the early years

We have to stop assuming that every child is travelling down the same developmental pathway.

A guide to neurodiversity in the early years

In recent years, there has been an increasing dialogue about the best ways to support children who have developmental differencesOur friends and allies at Randimals have a saying, What makes us different, makes all the difference in the world.Randimals We agree. Randimals are made up of two different animals… More. These children are traditionally referred to as having special educational needs (SEN).

While this term was originally designed to ensure that we identify and support those children in a timely manner, it has been criticised for its dominant focus on a child’s deficits and delays. In short, SEN only gives us part of the picture yet it can often become a dominant label that negatively shapes and shifts their experiences. This has to change if we are dedicated to improving children’s physical, social, emotional, cognitive and academic outcomes.

The aims of this booklet are to:

• introduce the concept of neurodiversity in an accessible way
• consider how ableismable·ism /ˈābəˌlizəm/ nounA system of assigning value to people’s bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normalcy, productivity, desirability, intelligence, excellence, and fitness. These constructed ideas are deeply… More is a barrier to inclusion
• explore neurodivergent profiles of development
• develop practical approaches in becoming neurodiversity-informed within our early years practice.

A guide to neurodiversity in the early years

Neurodiversity offers us an opportunity to expand our thinking about development and to embrace the fact that we are all different, and in different ways. Once we begin to do this, only then can we change the landscape of inclusion in the early years.

A guide to neurodiversity in the early years

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