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

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.