Gathering Autistic Children's Views on Their Educational Experiences: A Systematic Review of Methods

Abstract

Children should be heard on matters that impact their educational lives. However, meaningfully engaging autistic children can be difficult for researchers and policymakers. Therefore, this systematic review aimed to summarise methods used to gather the views of autistic children on their primary educational experiences. Database searches identified 34 peer-reviewed articles, which met the inclusion criteria. Analyses showed that semi-structured interviews were the most frequently used practice, and a variety of visual and technology-based activities were used as part of the interviews to support participants’ expression. A key consideration for future research and practice is that as researchers, it is our responsibility to co-produce methods with autistic children, to allow them to express their views, both in research and real life. The identity-first term ‘autistic’ is used throughout this study based on internationally reported preferences from autistic adults (e.g., Keating et al., 2023).