Inclusivity in education for autism spectrum disorders: Experiences of support from the perspective of parent/carers, school teaching staff and young people on the autism spectrum

Figures & data

Table 1. Participant demographics.

Participants Group (N = 24)	Participant code	Mainstream Education setting	Group format	Length of interview	Gender	Age	Ethnicity; first language	Number of children;	Details of children with ASD	Other information
^5Parents (N = 8)	Parent 1	Primary	Individual	Approx. 60 mins	Female	42	White British; English	4	Son Age 8 Diagnosed age 5; co-occurring speech and language difficulties, seizures
	Parent 2	Primary	Group 1	120 mins	Female	50	White British; English	3	Son age 11; Diagnosed age 10
	Parent 3	Primary	Group 1	–	Female	44	White British; English	3	Daughter age 9; diagnosed age 7; co-occurring ADHD, sensory processing difficulties, Hypermobility)	Parent of CYP1
	Parent 4	Primary	Group 1	–	Female	26	White British; English	1	Son age 7; diagnosed age 2yrs 10 months; co-occurring Anxiety; hypermobility)
	Parent 5	Primary	Group 1	–	Female	43	White British; English	3	Daughter age 7; diagnosed age 4
	Parent 6	Secondary	Individual	Approx. 60 mins	Female	45	White British; English	2	2 sons with ASD: age 17 (diagnosed age 3; co-occurring global learning disability); age 14 (diagnosed age 9; co-occurring ADHD, dyspraxia)	Parent of CYP2
	³Parent 7	Secondary	Group 2 / individual	(Group2: 67 mins; individual: 64 mins)	Male	57	White British; English	_²	Granddaughter (NB: identifies as non-binary) age 15; Diagnosed age 8; co-occurring epilepsy)
	Parent 8	Primary & secondary	Group 2 / individual	(Group2:as above; individual: 66 mins)	Female	40	Pakistani; Urdu	4	2 children with ASD age 14 (son diagnosed age 14; ADHD) and daughter age 5; diagnosed age 5; co-occurring anxiety)
^5Staff (N = 12)	SENCO 1	Secondary	Group 3	Group3: 93 mins	Male	36	White British	–	^411-16	Time in role: 5 years
	SENCO2	Primary	Group 3	–	Female	29	White other	–	^43-11	Time in role: 1 year
	SENCO 3	Secondary	Group 3	–	Female	63	White British	–	^411-16	Time in role: 17 years
	SENCO 4 – inclusion manager	Primary	Group 3	–	Female	46	English	–	^44-11	Time in role: 2 years
	TA1 –	Primary -higher level teaching assistant	Group 4	Group4: Approx. 60 mins	Female	33	White British	–	^411-16	Time in role: 8 years
	TA2	Primary – nursery nurse	Group 4	–	Female	29	White British	–	^44-5	Time in role: 2 years
	TA3	Secondary	Group 4	–	Female	21	Black British Caribbean	–	^45-7	Time in role: 2 weeks
	TA4	Primary	Group 5	Group5: Approx. 60 mins	Female	33	_²	–	^46-11	Time in role: 6 years
	Teacher1	Primary	Group 5	–	Female	33	British	–	^47-10	Time in role: 9 years
	Teacher2	Primary	Group 5	–	Female	34	White British	–	^43-11	Time in role: 2 years
	Teacher3	Primary	Group 5	–	Female	24	British	–	^45-10	Time in role: 2.5 years
	Assistant Head	Primary	Group 5	–	Female	_²	_²	–	_²	_²
¹^&5Children and Young People (N = 4)	CYP1	Primary	Individual	Between 30-60 min	Female	9	White British; English	–	Diagnosed Age 7 (co-occurring sensory processing difficulties, ADHD)	Child of Parent3
	CYP2	Secondary	Individual	Between 30-60 min	Male	14	Identified White English/Scottish; English	–	Diagnosed Age 9 (co-occurring ADHD, dyspraxia)	Child of Parent6
	CYP3	Secondary	Individual	Between 30-60 min	Male	11	Bangladeshi; English	–	_²
	CYP4	Secondary	Individual	Between 30-60 min	Male	15	British; English	–	Diagnosed Age 10

¹Diagnosed with ASD.

²A hyphen indicates that the participant did not answer these questions when requested.

³Grandparent who was primary carer.

⁴Age ranges of autistic children staff worked with.

⁵The term ‘parent’ will be used to denote parent or grandparent primary carer; ‘staff’ to denote school SEN teaching staff; and ‘child(ren)’ or ‘young person’ to denote the young people involved in the study or the children referred to by parents and staff participants.

Table 2. Main themes and subthemes.

Main themes	Subthemes
A system overwhelmed by unmet needs	A difficult system with inaccessible provision
	Funding issues and resources
	A constant battle with, and within, the system
The impact on quality of life	Not understanding others’ perspectives
	Lack of support negatively affects everyone
	Stagnation in life: feeling stuck
Hopes for the future	The value of support and external resources
	From alone to together
	Empowering people in the system