Understanding the Experiences of Young Children on the Autism Spectrum as They Navigate the Irish Early Years’ Education System: Valuing Voices in Child-Centered Narratives

Abstract

This article, which focuses upon narrative inquiry as a means of including the voice and experience of children on the autism spectrum, draws upon a doctoral study that explores the experiences of young children as they and their families navigate the Irish Early Years’ Education System (both preschool and primary school). It focuses, in particular, on the need to acknowledge and appreciate the experiences of these children within their homes and educational settings, their immediate microsystem. It also urges an increased awareness of how the development of these children’s voices is heavily impacted by the roles and actions of others. Six parents shared stories of navigating the Irish Early Years’ Education System with their young child on the autism spectrum. Their children’s voices were incorporated into these narratives using visual storytelling methods. This research adopted an ecological or intercontextual interpretive stance, thus providing valuable insight into the coconstructed experiences of those who identify as “different” or “other,” in this instance, young children on the autism spectrum and their families. In terms of the present article, this ecological stance encompasses the central aim of the overarching study; the critical restorying of parents’ lived experiences of navigating the Irish Early Years’ Education System with their child on the autism spectrum which is thus, underpinned by narrative inquiry and voice.