Educational discourse and the autistic student: a study using Q-sort methodology

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

About the autistic author marker

Milton, D. E. M. (2016). Educational discourse and the autistic student: a study using Q-sort methodology [Dissertation]. https://kar.kent.ac.uk/62672/1/Thesis%20full.pdf

Publication date: 8 Jul 2016 Added to AutiHub: 22 Oct 2026 Type: Dissertation Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)

Abstract

With some notable exceptions (e.g. Jones et al., 2012), current guidance regarding best practice for the education of children on the autism spectrum often reflects a medical / behavioural model approach that seeks to remediate perceived deficits (Cumine et al., 1998, Hanbury, 2005, Hewitt, 2005, Worth, 2005, Hagland and Webb, 2009). Such advice can be contrasted with that given by autistic writers (Sainsbury, 2000, Lawson, 2010) often situating itself within a social model of disability. This study utilised Q-sort methodology (n = 60), followed by qualitative interviews (n = 6) to investigate the ideology and priorities of differing stakeholders, including autistic adults, parents of autistic children, practitioners and academics working in the field, and those occupying multiple positions, regarding the education of autistic pupils of secondary-school age. Eight factors were extracted through the PoetQ application for analysis. Two of these factors were dominant within the data-set. One represented a critical radical pedagogy frequently favoured by autistic adults, the other an approach akin to a Positive Behavioural Support (PBS) model often preferred by non-autistic parents. Practitioners and academics were found to hold a less-defined eclectic approach between these two main factors. The presentation concludes with a reflection regarding this ‘three-way dispositional problem’ and offers a number of recommendations for future research and practice.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 28 Oct 2026 01:01.

Cited references
92
With a DOI
59
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
0
14 / 92 (15.2%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
5 / 92 (5.4%)
References with detected author names
87 / 92 (94.6%)
Without detected author names
5
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
0
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
162
From DOI or external metadata
162
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
40 / 162 (24.7%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 122 / 162 (75.3%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
16 / 162 (9.9%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 16 / 40 (40.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 8 / 147 (5.4%).
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