Social Experiences and Identity Development in High School From the Perspectives of Three Autistic Girls

Abstract

Although autistic students who identify as girls spend much of their time at school, little is known about their perspectives or the effects of school experiences on the development of their autistic identity. This study focuses on the school experiences of three western U.S. teenage autistic girls enrolled in social skills instruction and the impact of this instruction on their identity. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis methods, the authors present the findings in four themes: sense of otherness, masking to survive, learning about autism and neurodiversity, and autistic self-construction. Implications from this study include incorporating neurodiversity concepts into high school to support the positive autistic identity development of autistic youth who identify as girls.

Keywords

autism disability groups high school contexts social relationships/communication transition area qualitative research methodology

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