The Influence of Disclosure on Peer Engagement and Interactions for a Child with Autism in Summer Camps: A Within Case Mixed Methods Study

• Author / Creator

  Fan, Luan

• Autism Spectrum disorder (ASD) is often considered an invisible disability. Children with autism are at a particularly high risk of experiencing exclusion, stigma and bullying. Increasing social participation and engaging in community-based activities are one of the highest priorities for children with autism. According to previous hypothetical vignettes research, diagnostic disclosure and explanatory information of what the diagnosis means and how to engage with children with autism to their peers may increase engagement and inclusion for children with autism. However, no study has evaluated the effect of preventive disclosure in real life community contexts.

  This study is a mixed-methods instrumental case study. We evaluated engagement states of a child with autism who participated in both disclosure and non-disclosure conditions at summer camp. The time-interval behavioral-coding system the Playground Observation of Peer Engagement (POPE) will be used to observe both the child and peers in the program, code their engagement states and reciprocal activities (both initiations and responses). To understand the perceived outcomes of disclosure from different perspectives, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with the child with autism, camp leaders and peers in the disclosure camp. This study provides preliminary data to support that the use of simple disclosure protocol might be an easy and cost-efficient intervention to help improve peer engagement and understanding of children with autism in short-term community programs.
  This thesis is presented in three chapters. The first chapter includes an introduction and discussion related to literature broader than that included in chapter two, which presents the original research contribution. The third chapter then presents a discussion, limitations, future research directions, and conclusions related to the broader literature and practice. The detailed research abstract for the original research presented in chapter two is included below.
   

• Subjects / Keywords

  • diagnostic disclosure
  • Children with Autism
  • inclusion
  • community programs
  • peer engagement

• Graduation date

  Fall 2020

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-bk9g-1h91

• License

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