School participation of autistic youths: The influence of youth, family and school factors.

The study measured associations at one time point, so it cannot show that physical school environment problems caused lower school participation. All information came from parents, not from the autistic youths or teachers, and parents may report fewer environmental problems than young people do. Many data were missing: 67 of 200 parents (33.5%) did not complete the autistic traits questionnaire, 42 (21%) did not provide school participation information, and 55 (27.5%) did not report parental self-efficacy. Youths with missing autistic traits data were younger, more often boys, more often had IQ scores of 70 or lower, and had parents with lower self-efficacy, so the analysed sample may not represent autistic youths with more pronounced traits or intellectual disability. The sample was mainly youths with IQ scores above 70 (151, 84%). The school environment questionnaire was modified by the research team, its validity for Dutch samples was unclear, and the physical environment scale had low reliability (alpha = 0.61). The parents were a relatively homogeneous group with above-average education and high self-efficacy, which makes it hard to detect family-related associations. The study measured participation relative to classmates, not the child’s own experience of school or preferences for activities. The study examined only six factors and did not measure many school policies, teacher attitudes, or curriculum adaptations.

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The study was funded by the Dutch Research Council and the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for BOLD Cities.

Do not conclude that modifying the physical school environment will increase school participation. This study did not test an environmental change. It found an association at one time point between parent-reported physical environment problems and lower parent-reported school participation.