Schooling for Pupils with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Parents' Perspectives.
Lotta Anderson
PMID 32277389WHAT IT FOUND
Parents of 1799 Swedish pupils with autism reported school absence without illness, more often in girls, and named staff autism knowledge and poor school adaptation more than bullying.
Key findings
01Parents reported school absence without illness for 51.3% of primary pupils and 57.6% of secondary pupils, and the difference was not significant.
02Parents reported girls had higher rates of absence without illness than boys (54.6% vs 43.9%) and more short absences, but no significant difference for absences longer than 4 weeks.
03The most common reported reasons for absence were lack of autism competence of staff (26.6%), lack of adaptation of the school environment (24.3%), lack of support in learning situations (23.5%) and lack of support in social situations (23.8%); bullying was reported by 4.8%.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The sample was limited to parents who received the questionnaire from a Swedish autism association and chose to answer; the paper does not know how many eligible parents did not respond. Results are parent-reported perceptions, not direct observations of school quality or objective grades. The questionnaire could not separate grades by subject, only whether approved grades were achieved in Swedish, English and mathematics together. The survey could not be changed after data collection, so it may not have captured all reasons for absence or all forms of support. Some analyses had internal dropout numbers of 28 and 50, so the number of responses varied by question. Because it is a cross-sectional survey of association members, it cannot show that any school type caused better grades, wellbeing or attendance. The findings apply to Swedish schooling and a parents' association sample, so they may not transfer to other countries or families not involved with autism organisations.
Declared interests
The National Autism and Asperger Association in Sweden owned the dataset, and Malmö University purchased access to it. The supplied text does not report external funding or author conflict declarations.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the higher reported absence in girls as proof that girls with autism are inherently more absent, or that special schools improve outcomes. These are parent-reported associations from a self-selected Swedish autism association sample, and school types differ in grading and support.