Research Project | Coping with Uncertainty in Everyday Situations at School

By Priyanka Rob, Research Assistant, Newcastle University

Coping with Uncertainty in Everyday Situations at School

Around 40% of autistic children experience high anxiety (van Steensel et al., 2011), which significantly impacts everyday life for them and their families. Anxiety also significantly impacts autistic children’s educational experiences and can result in school refusal and missed opportunities for participation in academic and social activities (Adams et al., 2021).

Extensive consultation with parents and therapists during our CUES© (Coping with Uncertainty in Everyday Situations) intervention development (Rodgers et al., 2017; Rodgers et al., 2019) indicates that uncertain situations in a school setting can impact autistic children’s opportunity to form friendships and participate fully in learning opportunities (Goodwin et al., 2021; Hodgson et al., 2016). Our work with parents suggests that schools would benefit from a teacher training package to support autistic students experiencing anxiety related to uncertainty at school.

Despite development of CUES© interventions and the impact of difficulties with uncertainty on anxiety, to date there has been little exploration of uncertainty related to anxiety in educational settings. We therefore, invite teachers and educational professionals to complete a brief survey exploring the impact of school based anxiety and uncertainty on autistic children at school. More information and the link to complete the survey can be seen below:

https://nclpsych.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8FYgmhAexLtImB8

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