Supporting a ‘good life’ for autistic children: Autistic adults’ and parents’ perspectives

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Simpson, K., Allen, C., Wheeley, E., Pellicano, E., Heyworth, M., den Houting, J., Bowen, R., & Adams, D. (2026). Supporting a ‘good life’ for autistic children: Autistic adults’ and parents’ perspectives. Autism, 30(4), 972-982. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613261418945

Publication date: 18 Feb 2026 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
8
Publication authors identified as autistic
2 / 8 (25.0%)
  1. Kate Simpson
  2. Connie Allen
  3. Elizabeth Wheeley
  4. Elizabeth Pellicano
  1. Melanie Heyworth *
  2. Jacquiline den Houting *
  3. Rachael Bowen
  4. Dawn Adams

Abstract

There has been limited research into what helps to promote autistic children’s quality of life. This qualitative study, co-produced with autistic people, aimed to identify, from multiple perspectives, what helps autistic children to live a ‘good life’. We conducted semi-structured interviews with autistic adults ( n = 28) and parents of autistic children ( n = 29). Using reflexive thematic analysis, we identified four themes: Being accepted by others in a way that allows the child to be themselves; Finding ‘the things that light [the child]’; Having a sense of control over their own life and Physical/sensory environments matter. All themes were common to both autistic adults and parents of autistic children, with the exception of one sub-theme, which was predominantly driven by autistic adults’ responses. These findings highlight potential pathways to support autistic children’s quality of life now and into the future. Lay Abstract There hasn’t been much research about what helps autistic children to live a ‘good life’ or to have a good quality of life. This makes it difficult to know how to help autistic children to do so. In this study, we asked autistic adults and parents of autistic children what they thought helped autistic children to live a ‘good life’. They mentioned four important areas. These were (a) autistic children being accepted as their real or true self, (b) autistic children finding the things that they enjoy and that energise them, (c) autistic children having a sense of control in their life and (d) physical environments that suit autistic children’s sensory needs. These are things that can be changed in the autistic child’s environment to support the autistic child in living a good life.

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: 2 Oct 2026 11:54.

Cited references
42
With a DOI
41
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
1
13 / 42 (31.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
1 / 42 (2.4%)
References with detected author names
41 / 42 (97.6%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
1
Without a stable identifier
1
References with raw author names still to review
1
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
185
From DOI or external metadata
185
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
1
102 / 185 (55.1%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 83 / 185 (44.9%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
23 / 185 (12.4%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 23 / 102 (22.5%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 20 / 172 (11.6%).
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