Author: Renee Mathews
Mathews, Renee, 2023 Autism in out of school hours care, Flinders University, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
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Centres for Out of School Hours Care (OSHC) have seen increased usage in recent years due to the changing nature of the workforce and families needing care for their school-aged children before and after school. Concurrent with these increases in OSHC use, there has been an increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism. However, there is a lack of research focusing on OSHC services in Australia and the care they provide for children with autism. This study sought to investigate the prevalence of children with autism in SA OSHC services and to explore the strategies used to support children with autism in OSHC settings in South Australia.
An online questionnaire was developed and all OSHC services in South Australia (n = 350) were invited to participate in the study. The survey asked respondents questions that described the demographics of the service including the number of children with autism who attend and whether they received additional funding to support these children. Questions also asked if the service had used a particular strategy from a list of 12 strategies used in schools to support children with autism. Respondents also rated and provided reasons for the effectiveness of the strategy. Just under one-quarter (23.3%, n = 87) of the invited OSHC services returned questionnaires. Over half of the educators felt that they had seen an increase in children with autism attending OSHC services. There were mixed responses as to how many strategies a service used and the perceived effectiveness/ineffectiveness of these strategies. Strategies that involved direct contact between children and educators (interaction-based) were perceived as more effective in supporting children with autism than strategies that were environmentally based. Reasons as to why these strategies were perceived to be more effective than others by educators and directors were inconclusive.
Future research focusing on why these strategies were perceived as effective or not, would provide a greater insight into what changes can be made in OSHC to support children with autism.
Keywords: OSHC, autism, after-school care, child care, Australia
Subject: Education thesis
Thesis type: Masters
Completed: 2023
School: College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
Supervisor: Dr. Grace Skrzypiec