Impairments associated with individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have led to concerns that their typically developing brothers and sisters will be adversely affected. A literature review was conducted to examine sibling relationship quality for children and young people with a brother or sister with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A systematic review of the literature yielded ten studies. A number of methodological issues were highlighted, thus there were few studies from which to draw firm conclusions regarding affective and interactive -' . sibling relationship quality and ASD. The review highlights the need for an operational definition of relationship quality, and the development of methodology for future research. The empirical study considered the perceptions and experiences of eight parents regarding their children's sibling relationships where one child had received a diagnosis of ASD. A wealth of information was derived from semi-structured interviews and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Five main themes were identified: i) Perceptions of closeness, ii) Perceptions of change, iii) Perceptions of responsibility, iv) Impact of ASD, and v) Perceptions of children's gains from the relationship. The findings provide some insight into parents' views of sibling relationship quality from the perspective ofthe child with ASD, as well as their children's overall sibling relationship quality, which may be important in informing further research projects. Implications for practice include an awareness of issues raised by families when working systemically. Future research and theory development and implications for clinical practice are considered in the final section of this thesis. 2

It has been identified that there is a need to diversify the current knowledge base of autism and there remains a distinct lack of cross-cultural research. This research investigates the experiences of South Asian parents living in the UK who have a child with autism, as this has been identified as an under-represented cultural group by previous researchers. Culture is discussed as an important factor shaping experience and this research explored the effects of parents' culture on their construction and experience of autism. The study is informed by key ideas from sociocultural theory (disability is understood differently depending on the social context of the individual) and intersectionality (the intersection of factors relating to culture and disability are significant in shaping experience). A grounded theory design was chosen, with the aim of developing a theoretical model that could explore the interplay of factors that shape the experience of South Asian parents who have a child with autism. Nine parents were interviewed and the data was analysed using grounded theory methods, based on the Corbin & Strauss (2008) version. The findings are presented in detail, including the grounded theory model developed during the analysis process. The main finding that South Asian parents' construction of autism was based on a medical model understanding is discussed, as well as the sources of knowledge that were considered to inform this construction: parents' direct exposure to information, parents' cultural values and beliefs and the effects of migrating to the UK. -The implications of these findings are considered, with particular thought given to how professionals such as Educational Psychologists can best support South Asian parents who have a child with autism.

Young people with autistic spectrum conditions (ASCs) attending mainstream schools are likely to experience lower levels of social inclusion than their typically developing peers. The study aimed to explore what helps the social inclusion of students with mild to moderate ASCs attending mainstream secondary schools. Using pragmatism as a guiding epistemological approach, the study was aimed at knowledge that has a purpose; that can lead to action. The purpose of the study was to help develop effective practice. The study was qualitative and used grounded theory as a research method which aims to capture the complexity of social phenomena. Research participants were young people with mild to moderate ASCs in years 8 or 9 of mainstream secondary schools, their parents, and school staff. Nine interviews were conducted drawing participants from school communities in one local authority. A grounded theory was developed which proposes that young people are active participants in their own social inclusion who choose strategies directed towards their social inclusion goals. A core concept in the theory was that valuing the young person and th eir contribution to the school community helps to empower them in their own social inclusion. Feeling va lued for their contribution can help young people manage their social identity and interaction. The grounded theory presented implies that school staff can contribute to the social inclusion of young people with ASC by valuing them, finding I ways for them to contribute, and ensuring that they feel valued. Attuned school staff who get to know individual young people with ASC help to involve them and promote their social self-effica cy. Motivational theories of psychology are proposed as providing helpful frameworks for EPs to consider the social and psychological needs of young people with ASC in mainstream secondary schools

Specialist Resource Provisions (SRPs) are unique types of educational provision providing a specialist classroom environment with access to a mainstream school setting. This research was set up to investigate the SRPs for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) within a Local Authority. A literature review revealed there is limited research specifically looking at the effective inclusion of children with ASD in SRPs. Previous research around education and ASD has tended to focus on the mainstream versus special school debate and what factors led to effective inclusion in these separate settings. This research study sought to evaluate which factors facilitated the effective inclusion of pupils, what barriers were faced to inclusion, what were parental and pupil perspectives, what were the characteristics of pupils whose needs could not be meet in the current SRPs and how the SRPs could be developed further to meet a wider range of pupil needs. The research used an exploratory qualitative approach collecting data through a focus group, a semi-structured interview and questionnaires with different groups of stake holders. Data was analysed using a content analysis approach with the support ofMAXQDA to support the analysis process. The main findings showed that there is a need for: • effective communication and links with others • regular access to external support services • access to an academic and alternative curriculum • ongoing training for all staff and peers • an appropriate physical environment • flexible staffing and funding arrangements The pupil characteristics that were hardest to meet with an SRP environment related to: • emotional and behavioural difficulties 1 1 2 • sensory needs • severe learning difficulties • severe speech and language difficulties • severe interaction difficulties The results were discussed in relation to future developments for the SRPs and the role of the Educational Psychologist in supporting SRPs.

The overall objective of this study was to understand the use of services by parents of children with an autism spectrum disorder in an inner London area. Children for this study were aged between four to eight years. A concurrent mixed method design was adopted. The primary investigation involved a quantitative approach to identify factors that were associated with and predictive of service use. Child factors (of neuropsychiatric symptoms, behavioural disturbances, autism symptomatology, and IQ), parental factors (ofparenting stress and depression), and socioeconomic factors were included in the quantitative investigation. Five support types from different services were included. Individual interviews with a small number of purposiveJy selected parents also took place to explore their views and beliefs that might be related to service use decisions. As predicted, ASD children of this sample were reported to have a high level of neuropsychiatric symptoms and behavioural disturbances. The level c;f parenting stress and risk of depression were clinically significant in a majority of this parent sample. IQ was not related to any child and parental factors. As also expected, a high level of service use was found in this parent sample, in that a majority of parents reported use of multiple services. Users and non-users of CAMHS and Social Care were analysed. Of all associated factors, the level of behavioural disturbances was the only factor found to be significantly predictive of CAi\1HS use. Predictive factors for Social Care use included parenting stress, intellectual impairment, and speaking English at home. Information from individual interviews with parents revealed high level of demands and challenges faced by parents. Issues related to service use decision were highlighted, including I 1 1 1 I j USE OF SERV1CES BY PARENTS OF ASD CHlLDREN J J difficulties finding out services thal were available and equality of access. Implications for clinical practice, future research directions and service development were discussed.

ASD is a neurodevelopmental disorder which primarily affects social interaction and communication. However, a growing literature has also identified some episodic memory difficulties in this group (e.g.: free recall, autobiographical memory, recollection). A plausible reason ·for this is that people with ASD lack the metacognitive mechanisms necessary for efficient memory. Hitherto, few studies have assessed metamemory (awareness of one's own memory) in ASD. The novelty of the current thesis was thus to compare performance of children with ASD to typically developing children on metacognitive monitoring (estimation of future memory performance) and control (manipulation of memory strategies) as well as metamemory knowledge about the variables affecting memory in online memory tasks. To investigate monitoring; global (judgment-of-Iearning & judgments-of-confidence) and item-by- item (judgments-of-Iearning & feeling-of-knowing) metacognitive judgments were used. Control was explored using recall readiness paradigm. The usage offeedback from monitoring to apply memory strategies (study time allocation & item selection) was further investigated. No group differences were found neither on global (Experiment 3.1, 3.2 & 4.2) nor item-by- item (Experiment 4.1 & 4.3) metacognitive monitoring at encoding (Judgment-of-Iearning). '. ' .. ~ However, the ASD group showed deficits in monitoring at retrieval (Feeling-of-knowing) in an episodic (but not a semantic) task. Children with ASD were also unimpaired on measure of control (Experiment 4.2) and on responding to feedback from monitoring (Experiment 4.3). Finally, the results showed spared knowledge in this clinical group regarding the effects of different learning conditions, such as self-enactment (Chapter 3), varying study time and item difficulty (Chapter 4). Overall the current thesis showed very specific metacognitve difficulties in ASD. These deficits are discussed in terms of mnemonic cues that these children can and cannot use to form their judgments. The involvement of retrieval of partial information (potentially reliant on recollection) and cues regarding the self are proposed as potential causes of these monitoring difficulties .

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