Totsika, V;
Hastings, RP;
Dutton, Y;
Worsley, A;
Melvin, G;
Gray, K;
Tonge, B;
(2020)
Types and correlates of school non-attendance in students with autism spectrum disorders.
Autism
, 24
(7)
pp. 1639-1649.
10.1177/1362361320916967.
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Abstract
School non-attendance in autism spectrum disorders has received very little attention to date. The study aimed to provide a comprehensive description of school non-attendance in students with autism spectrum disorders. Through an online survey, parents of 486 children (mean age: 11 years) reported on school attendance over 1 month and reasons for instances of non-attendance. On average, students missed 5 days of school of a possible 23 days. Persistent non-attendance (absent on 10%+ of available sessions) occurred among 43% of students. School non-attendance was associated with child older age, not living in a two-parent household, parental unemployment and, especially, attending a mainstream school. School refusal accounted for 43% of non-attendance. School exclusion and school withdrawal each accounted for 9% of absences. Truancy was almost non-existent. Non-problematic absenteeism (mostly related to medical appointments and illness) accounted for 32% of absences. Non-problematic absenteeism was more likely among those with intellectual disability, school refusal was more likely among older students and school exclusion was more likely among students from single-parent, unemployed and well-educated households. Findings suggest that school non-attendance in autism spectrum disorders is a significant issue, and that it is important to capture detail about attendance patterns and reasons for school non-attendance.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Types and correlates of school non-attendance in students with autism spectrum disorders |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1177/1362361320916967 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1362361320916967 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
| Keywords: | Autism, intellectual disability, school exclusion, school non-attendance, school refusal, school withdrawal, truancy |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10097647 |
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