Research Project | Exploring the Constructs of Autistic Young People Experiencing Emotionally Based School Avoidance

By Mollie Higgins, Trainee Educational Psychologist, at Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, currently undertaking research into Emotional Based School Avoidance (EBSA).

Hello, my name is Mollie and I am a Year 3 Trainee Child, Community and Educational Psychologist completing my Doctorate at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust. I am passionate about hearing the views and opinions of young people and ensuring that they are directly involved in research that concerns them. I developed an interest in Emotionally Based School Avoidance during my first year of training, which coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent periods of home-schooling. Through my work with various schools, education staff and parents and carers, I recognised that EBSA was becoming an increasing concern, particularly for secondary age children. Whilst learning more about risk factors and reasons for attendance difficulties, I was struck by the proportion of autistic young people who were finding it difficult to attend school.

Although EBSA is recognised as a risk factor for later mental health difficulties, social isolation and reduced academic and employment opportunities, it has historically been viewed as a ‘within-child’ problem, placing blame on the young person for their attendance difficulties. Within the research, I noticed less focus on the school context as a contributing factor for EBSA and more on the young person’s difficulties. Furthermore, young people’s voices were often overlooked within the literature. With this in mind, I decided to focus my research on working directly with autistic young people with attendance difficulties by exploring how they perceive and construct their school experience.

I wondered whether young people’s views had been overlooked due to challenges in eliciting their ideas and opinions, particularly for young people with social communication difficulties. Utilising my knowledge of Personal Construct Psychology as a way of eliciting the views of children, I recognised an exciting opportunity to use a creative drawing technique to gain young people’s views. Drawing the Ideal School (adapted by Williams & Hanke, 2007 and based on Moran, 2001) allows a child to express their ideas about the best and worst type of school by both drawing and talking. The approach has been successful with various groups of young people, including those with Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC), social and emotional needs and selective mutism and therefore felt appropriate to use with autistic young people who find it difficult to attend school.

The criteria to be involved are as follows:

• Secondary school age (school years 7-11)
• Has a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Condition
• Has difficulty attending school

We will complete the Drawing the Ideal School activity using the online platform Zoom. The hope is that the research will provide an insight into autistic young people’s constructs of school and their ideas about the changes that could be made to the school environment to improve attendance. With the young person’s consent, a summary will be shared with their school to help staff understand their needs and adjustments that may support their attendance.

Thank you for reading about my research journey. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.

Please share with any parents or carers of autistic young people (secondary age) who find it difficult to attend school. For more information or to express interest, please contact me ([email protected]).

If EBSA is an area which you're supporting CYP with, we've been fortunate to work with Dr Jerricah Holder on her EBSA Horizons courses for Educational Psychologists and School Staff.

EBSA Horizons School Staff Training

EBSA Horizons School Training is a comprehensive CPD course for School Staff, which develops understanding and skills (alongside a lot of resources) to support children and young people experiencing difficulties attending school. This course has been updated for 2023 with a new chapter -

Chapter 6:  The Systemic Change Model of EBSA

Find out more about EBSA Horizons School Training here and register your interest to receive 3 FREE resources from this course.

EBSA Horizons Educational Psychologist CPD

EBSA Horizons is a comprehensive CPD course for EPs, which develops understanding and skills (alongside a lot of resources) to support children and young people experiencing difficulties attending school. This course has been recently updated for 2023 with two new chapters -

Chapter 6:  Supporting Autistic CYP Experiencing EBSA

Chapter 7:  Entrenched EBSA

Find out more about EBSA Horizons here and register your interest to receive 3 FREE resources from this course.