Outcomes of an Intervention to Build Early Childhood Educators’ Capacity to Promote the Participation of Autistic Children with Reactions to Sensory Stimulations

ABSTRACT

Strategies to support children’s participation when their sensory needs are not met are misunderstood and not sufficiently supported by scientific evidence. However, early childhood educators who work with autistic children in an inclusive setting need support to understand these reactions and implement effective strategies to promote their participation. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the outcomes of a capacity-building intervention, including five educational videos and three to five coaching sessions, to support educators in the identification and implementation of strategies to promote the participation of an autistic child. A multiple case study was conducted in six different early childhood daycares with six dyads of educators and autistic children aged between three and five years old. Qualitative and quantitative data were triangulated to ensure validity. Educators implemented different strategies throughout the project, but the strategies were more complex during the coaching sessions. The strategies implemented by the educators facilitated the performance of autistic children in 63% of the goals identified. This article suggests that building capacity of educators can promote autistic children’s participation and emphasizes the relevance of inclusive strategies.

KEYWORDS:

• Early childhood daycare
• sensory intervention
• occupational therapist
• education
• coaching

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The research for this paper was financially supported by the Fonds de recherche inclusion sociale (FRIS), the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration (CIRRIS), the Institut universitaire en déficience intellectuelle et en trouble du spectre de l’autisme (IU-DITSA), the Social sciences and humanities research council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS).