School-based interventions for childhood trauma and autism spectrum disorder: a narrative review

ABSTRACT

Objective: This narrative review aimed to draw on the literature regarding school interventions for students with autism spectrum disorder and exposed to trauma.Method: However, because of the paucity of literature in this area, the intention of this review was also to explore possible intersections between trauma-informed school practices and autism spectrum disorder interventions in schools.Results: This review indicates that the pillars of trauma-informed care overlap with aspects of autism interventions in schools, and using a combined framework could be appropriate for students with autism spectrum disorder who have been exposed to trauma. These interventions promote improved student emotion awareness and regulation, school relationships and communication, and goal setting and school engagement, intending to reduce disruptive behaviours, improve school engagement and reduce learning impairments of these students.Conclusions: An integrated approach for students exposed to trauma and students with autism spectrum disorder is hypothesised to improve educator awareness and school practices in response to schoolchildren presenting with these challenges.

KEYWORDS:

• Autism spectrum disorder
• trauma
• trauma-informed
• interventions
• schools

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Human ethics

Human research ethical approval was not required to undertake this review.