Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Advanced Research in Education
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Social Skills and Relationship and Sexuality Education for Autistic Students
Michele Dunleavy, Johanna Fitzgerald, Trevor O’Brien, Laura Ambrose
ABSTRACT:
It is well documented in research that cognitive development age does not correlate with chronological age and therefore autistic students should be prepared for sexual relationships regardless of their developmental age. For this reason, the current research examined the teaching of social skills to prepare autistic students for relationship and sexuality education (RSE). It gained the views of autistic students, parents of autistic students and teachers of autistic students. Although not in the original plan autistic adults were included in the study. This was a qualitative study that used interviews to gain the viewpoint of parents and teachers and autistic adults and a diamond ranking exercise to gain the views of autistic students. Braun and Clarke (2020) thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. It would appear that teachers do not know when and where to start and what to teach, parents are hoping that school will teach RSE and the students are reporting that they do not have the skills to access RSE. The data suggested that schools are not helping autistic students develop social skills to prepare them to access the RSE curriculum. The data also suggests that schools are not aware of the importance of foundations skills and that teachers are not confident in teaching “that stuff” while parents are waiting for their child to ask questions. Therefore, it would appear that there is a ‘wing and a prayer’ attitude when it comes to preparing autistic individuals for relationships and particularly sexual relationships.
keywords: autism; cognitive; curriculum; development; diamond-ranking