TEP poster presenters

Claire Cooper, University of Southampton 

Developing Culturally Responsive Educational Psychology Practice for Black African Parents of Autistic Children 

Abstract: Educational Psychologists (EPs) are privileged to work with autistic children, young people and their families. As a demographically homogenous white workforce working within an increasingly multicultural country, EPs will regularly work with parents and families of autistic children from different cultural backgrounds to their own. This thesis explored the way EP practice can be developed to be more culturally responsive when working with black African parents of autistic children.  This thesis included two separate but related studies. The second study was a qualitative interview study of 11 EPs and two black African parents working and living across two London local authorities. The study aimed to investigate the interactions between EPs and black African parents when working together around autistic children. Five themes were developed using reflexive thematic analysis. The themes described EPs current practice and the systems they work within as barriers to changing practice. Additionally, parents described their positive and negative experiences working with professionals during their child's early years. Parents and EPs spoke about power, trust, and safety within this study, highlighting the essentiality of reducing power imbalances so that parents can feel safe during their work with EPs. The findings of this thesis should be used to develop EP's cultural awareness about the experiences black African parents of autistic children may have, and to develop culturally responsive practice. 

Kathy Connolly, University of East London

Harnessing the ‘well’ in being: an exploration of the wellbeing experiences of adolescent autistic girls and how these can be supported within mainstream schools.

Abstract: Determining how to support autistic wellbeing has become a high priority for research amid calls from within the community and psychology profession (Autistica, 2015; British Psychological Society, 2021; Gowen et al., 2019; Pellicano et al., 2014; Rodogno et al., 2016). The wellbeing experiences of autistic girls throughout their secondary education are influenced by issues of neurodiversity acceptance, power and social justice. Recognising the adolescence developmental tasks and broader eco-systemic factors, this research adopted a positive psychology approach to explore the lived experiences of wellbeing for girls with autism. A clear social justice goal was identified – to develop a shared construct of autistic girls’ wellbeing so that schools can review their wellbeing provision.

A transformative paradigm was purposed to create a community-led and participatory research space in which seven teenage girls attending mainstream secondary schools became co-researchers. Their role in co-producing the research design, data collection methodology and analysis was instrumental in ensuring the study’s findings were meaningful and impactful. An accessible online forum was created for co-researcher planning as well as data collection (via semi-structured interviews). Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to honour the voices of the autistic girls at both an individual and group level, to emancipate their lived experiences. 

Key findings indicated that there are many social, emotional and political factors in the secondary school system which influence the girls’ wellbeing. Integral to their wellbeing is an understanding of how they are creating their autistic identity, balancing their emotions throughout the school day, finding where they belong and the pressures of navigating the complex school system. School support needs to incorporate whole school awareness of how these factors influence autistic girls’ wellbeing, the creation of an inclusive community space that recognises and celebrates neurodivergent differences, co-production of personalised wellbeing provision with the help of relationally attuned adults and a culture of wellbeing that looks beyond the school gates. 

Implications for Educational Psychologists’ practice in critically challenging school support are discussed and a graduated approach framework for school leaders is suggested. Recommendations for future research are considered.

Lauren Craik, University of Southampton 

Exploring the association between interoception, alexithymia, and anxiety in autistic adolescents  

Abstract: It is well-established that anxiety is prevalent amongst autistic adolescents and sensory differences are common. Interoception is increasingly being explored in relation to anxiety, and research has begun to investigate the link between interoception and anxiety in autistic groups, with a suggestion that a discrepancy between interoceptive accuracy and beliefs may result in a diminished capacity to regulate, resulting in greater levels of anxiety. Given its role in emotional processing, alexithymia, which is reported to be more prevalent in autistic individuals, may also play a role in the interaction between autism, interoception, and anxiety. This study aims to contribute to an understanding of anxiety in autistic adolescents by exploring the associations between interoception, alexithymia, and anxiety in this population. Questionnaires were utilised to measure autism traits, anxiety, alexithymia and interoceptive beliefs in a sample of 37 autistic adolescents. In addition, behavioural measures of cardiac interoception, with confidence judgements, were used to measure interoceptive accuracy and insight. Correlation, regression, and moderation analyses were utilised to analyse the data. The results revealed a significant relationship between interoceptive beliefs and anxiety. No other variables were associated with anxiety in the present study.