Community perspectives on support goals for young autistic children: A qualitative investigation

Waddington, H., Jordan, P., Scott, E., Minnell, H., Patrick, L., Meer, L. v. d., Monk, R., Andrew, J., & Tupou, J. (2023). Community perspectives on support goals for young autistic children: A qualitative investigation. Neurodiversity, 1. https://doi.org/10.1177/27546330231218587

Publication date: 1 Jan 2023 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

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Authors

Publication authors
9
Publication authors identified as autistic
2 / 9 (22.2%)

Abstract

Goal setting is integral to the provision of effective support, but little is known about community perspectives on support goals for autistic children. A total of 41 autistic adults, 50 parents of autistic children and 31 clinical professionals living in New Zealand and Australia completed open-ended survey questions regarding their perceptions of support goals for young autistic children. Reflexive thematic analysis resulted in five overarching themes related to early support goals: (a) neurodiversity affirming, (b) change the environment, not the child, (c) helping adults to support autistic children, (d) quality of life and (e) respect boundaries. The perspectives of autistic adults, parents and professionals were mostly aligned.

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These indicators describe the cited bibliography imported for this publication. Cited-reference metrics use the cited-reference total as denominator. Cited-author metrics state whether they use all cited-author occurrences or only occurrences linked to authors already integrated in the AutiHub database. They use cached links between cited authors and authors integrated in the AutiHub database. Last computed: 16 Aug 2026 11:31.

Cited references
42
Total cited references integrated for this publication.
Cited references with an identified autistic author
11 / 42 (26.2%)
Cited author occurrences identified as autistic
16 / 194 (8.2%)
Among occurrences linked to AutiHub author records: 16 / 98 (16.3%). Distinct cited authors identified as autistic: 14 / 178 (7.9%).
Cited author occurrences linked to AutiHub author records
98 / 194 (50.5%)
Distinct linked cited authors: 82 / 178 (46.1%)
Linked cited-author occurrences not identified as autistic
82 / 98 (83.7%)
Among linked cited-author occurrences only. Across all cited-author occurrences: 82 / 194 (42.3%). Distinct linked cited authors not identified as autistic: 68 / 82 (82.9%).
4 cited bibliography entries could not be fully enriched from DOI metadata.
Crossref: not found (2) · DataCite: not found (2)
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