« J'ai simplement l'impression que l'enseignante me comprenait et qu'elle savait ce dont j'avais besoin » : expériences scolaires d'élèves autistes issus de milieux divers

Titre original en anglais : “I Just Feel Like the Teacher Understood Me, and She Knew What I Needed”: School Experiences of Autistic Students from Diverse Backgrounds

Smith, J., Rabba, A. S., Coverdale, G., Datta, P., Hall, G., Heyworth, M., Hudry, K., Lawson, W., Lilley, R., & Pellicano, E. (2025). “I Just Feel Like the Teacher Understood Me, and She Knew What I Needed”: School Experiences of Autistic Students from Diverse Backgrounds. Autism & Developmental Language Impairments, 10, 23969415251377973-23969415251377973. https://doi.org/10.1177/23969415251377973

Date de publication: 01/03/2025 Ajout dans AutiHub: 05/07/2026 Type: Article Langue de l’article: Anglais

Cette publication est intégrée dans AutiHub via :

Auteurs

Auteur·ices des publications
10
Auteur·ices de la publication identifié·es comme autistes
3 / 10 (30,0 %)

Résumé

Contexte et objectifs : Recueillir le témoignage de jeunes personnes autistes est essentiel pour comprendre leur expérience vécue de l'éducation et concevoir des environnements dans lesquels ces élèves peuvent s'épanouir. Malgré l'accroissement des connaissances dans ce domaine, nous manquons de perspectives provenant d'un large éventail d'élèves autistes, ce qui limite nécessairement notre capacité à créer des environnements inclusifs et favorables pour tous. Cette étude a exploré les expériences éducatives d'élèves autistes d'âge préscolaire et scolaire issus de groupes d'âge, de milieux et de contextes éducatifs divers. Méthodes : Trente-six élèves autistes (âgés de 4 à 18 ans) issus de milieux chinois, vietnamien, somalien, libanais et australien blanc ont fait part de leurs réflexions et de leurs expériences concernant leur éducation. Au moyen d'entretiens semi-structurés, les élèves ont raconté leurs histoires à l'aide de mots et d'images. Les transcriptions des entretiens ont été analysées au moyen d'une analyse thématique réflexive. Résultats : Les élèves ont décrit un sentiment de surcharge important dans les contextes éducatifs, ce qui les a conduits à apprécier l'accès à des espaces sûrs et le fait d'avoir une autonomie quant aux décisions prises au cours de leur journée scolaire. Un fort sens de l'équité et de la justice a été rapporté, les élèves étant frustrés par l'application inéquitable des règles scolaires, ainsi que découragés par les faibles attentes des éducateurs à leur égard. Les élèves préféraient les enseignants qui étaient clairs et directs dans leur communication et qui se souciaient réellement d'eux en tant qu'individus. Les élèves étaient attentifs aux différences et aux perspectives des autres, s'efforçant d'établir un respect mutuel et une amitié avec leurs pairs. Conclusions : Les résultats de cette recherche indiquent que, pour s'épanouir sur les plans scolaire, émotionnel et social, les élèves autistes ont besoin de contextes éducatifs conçus avec soin, assortis d'attentes élevées pour chaque élève, ainsi que d'une attention individualisée de la part des enseignants. Implications : Nos résultats renforcent l'idée que la conception des classes et les pratiques éducatives doivent prendre en compte les besoins de tous les élèves afin que les élèves autistes puissent s'épanouir. Du point de vue de la pratique, promouvoir l'autonomie des élèves concernant certains aspects de leur environnement éducatif, tels que la possibilité d'utiliser des écouteurs en classe ou la mise à disposition d'espaces où se retirer afin de prévenir ou de gérer la surcharge sensorielle ou sociale, pourrait constituer des « gains rapides » pour les écoles souhaitant favoriser des contextes plus sûrs et plus sécurisants pour les apprenants autistes. De manière générale, les éducateurs devraient viser à intégrer autant de certitude que possible dans les environnements éducatifs des élèves autistes afin d'établir une base solide pour l'apprentissage. Cette base sera probablement la plus efficace lorsque les éducateurs seront des partenaires de découverte avec chaque élève autiste, cherchant à comprendre ses forces, ses besoins, sa personnalité et son identité propres, et à établir des relations de confiance entre l'élève et l'enseignant. Bien que notre recherche ait examiné les perspectives d'un éventail diversifié d'élèves autistes, les recherches futures devraient tenter de recueillir les expériences éducatives à la fois d'enfants autistes plus jeunes, par exemple d'âge préscolaire, et d'enfants non parlants ou semi-parlants, en explorant des méthodes adaptées à cet objectif.

Background and aims: Gathering Autistic young people's testimony is critical for understanding their lived experience of education and designing settings in which these students can thrive. Despite increasing knowledge in this field, we lack perspectives from a broad range of Autistic students which necessarily limits our ability to build inclusive, supportive environments for all. This study explored the educational experiences of preschool and school-aged Autistic students from diverse age groups, backgrounds, and educational settings. Methods: Thirty-six Autistic students (aged 4-18 years) from Chinese, Vietnamese, Somali, Lebanese, and White Australian backgrounds shared their thoughts and experiences of their education. Through semi-structured interviews, students told their stories using words and pictures. Interview transcripts were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Students described experiencing significant overwhelm within education settings, which led them to value access to safe spaces and having autonomy over decisions in their school day. A strong sense of fairness and justice was reported with students frustrated by inequitable application of school rules, as well as being discouraged by educators' low expectations of them. Students preferred teachers who were clear and direct in their communication and genuinely cared about them as individuals. Students were mindful of others' differences and perspectives, striving for mutual respect and friendship with their peers. Conclusions: Findings from this research indicate that to thrive academically, emotionally and socially, Autistic students need thoughtfully designed education settings with high expectations for every student, together with individualistic care from teachers. Implications: Our findings reinforce how classroom design and education practices must consider the needs of all students for Autistic students to thrive. From a practice perspective, promoting student autonomy around aspects of their educational environment-such as the ability to use headphones in class or provision of spaces in which to retreat to prevent or manage sensory/social overwhelm-could be "quick wins" for schools wanting to foster safer, more secure settings for Autistic learners. Broadly, educators should aim to embed as much certainty as possible into Autistic students' educational environments to lay a solid foundation for learning. This foundation is likely to be most effective when educators are partners in discovery with each individual Autistic student, seeking to understand their unique strengths, needs, personalities and identities, and build trusting student-teacher relationships. While our research examined the perspectives of a diverse range of Autistic students, future research should attempt to elicit the educational experiences of both younger Autistic children (e.g., preschoolers) and non- or semi-speaking children, exploring methods suited to this purpose.

Bibliographie citée par cette référence

Les références citées sont importées depuis des sources externes de métadonnées lorsqu’elles sont disponibles. La liste peut être partielle.

Vue d’ensemble de l’inclusion dans la bibliographie

Ces indicateurs décrivent la bibliographie citée importée pour cette publication. Les métriques de références citées utilisent le total des références citées comme dénominateur. Les métriques d’auteurices cité·es indiquent si elles utilisent toutes les occurrences d’auteurices cité·es ou seulement les occurrences rattachées à des auteurices déjà intégré·es à la base de données AutiHub. Ils utilisent les rattachements mis en cache entre les auteurices cité·es et les auteurices intégré·es à la base de données AutiHub. Dernier calcul : 16/08/2026 11:30.

Références citées
61
Nombre total de références citées intégrées pour cette publication.
Références citées avec un·e auteur·ice identifié·e comme autiste
4 / 61 (6,6 %)
Occurrences d’auteur·ices cité·es identifié·es comme autistes
13 / 235 (5,5 %)
Parmi les occurrences rattachées à des auteurices intégré·es à la base de données AutiHub : 13 / 84 (15,5 %). Auteurices cité·es distinct·es identifié·es comme autistes : 6 / 203 (3,0 %).
Occurrences citées rattachées à la base AutiHub
84 / 235 (35,7 %)
Auteurices cité·es distinct·es rattaché·es : 56 / 203 (27,6 %)
Occurrences rattachées, non identifiées comme autistes
71 / 84 (84,5 %)
Parmi les seules occurrences rattachées. Sur l’ensemble des occurrences d’auteurices cité·es : 71 / 235 (30,2 %). Auteurices cité·es distinct·es rattaché·es, non identifié·es comme autistes : 50 / 56 (89,3 %).
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