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School connectedness is defined in the literature as the extent to which a student feels their teachers, peers, and others in the school community value them and care about their learning. The concept has been linked to a range of “at risk” health behaviours and, more recently, has been regarded as a protective factor for mental health in adolescents and young adults. Students on the autism spectrum are a vulnerable population known to experience poorer outcomes at school when compared to typically developing peers, yet little is known about their school connectedness experiences. As differences in social communication is a defining characteristic of autism, building positive relationships with teachers and peers may be more difficult for these students, affecting their ability to build a strong sense of school connectedness. There are limited studies available that explore school connectedness in a population of students on the autism spectrum, and no studies were found that focus specifically on primary school-aged children on the autism spectrum. This is the first study to focus specifically on parents’ perspectives of indicators, facilitators, and barriers to school connectedness for primary school-aged children on the autism spectrum. Parents’ feedback for two established measures of school connectedness was also collected, to inform future work evaluating the suitability and validity of such measures for children on the autism spectrum. This study found that many of the indicators, facilitators, and barriers to school connectedness for primary school children on the autism spectrum are similar to those of typically developing children; however, parents also reported some important differences. Anxiety and meltdowns emerged as indicators of poor school connectedness, indicating that the relationship between school connectedness and mental health should be further researched in younger cohorts, especially those with additional support needs such as children on the autism spectrum. Another key finding was that relationships with teachers were reported by parents as an indicator, facilitator, and barrier to school connectedness. This crossover highlights the critical importance of supporting early years teachers and building their knowledge about autism so that children on the autism spectrum have the best opportunities to build strong school connectedness from the moment they begin formal education. A substantial proportion of parents (n = 6, 42.9%) did not endorse either measure of school connectedness as suitable for their primary school-aged child on the autism spectrum and identified a number of issues with the measures (such as the language and constructs used), as well as aspects of their child’s presentation of autism that would potentially confound the results. These findings indicate that further work should be conducted in defining school connectedness for children on the autism spectrum, before examining the validity of existing measures for use in this population. |
