Interdisciplinary Support for an Autistic Child in theContext of Inclusive Education: A Family’s Experience

Abstract

The paper presents the experience of a family with an autistic child as a case study, highlighting the challenges and best practices of interdisciplinary assistance. The study is based on qualitative narrative methodology and an ecological systematic theoretical approach.
Data were collected using interviews and analyzed by combining an ecological systematic analysis approach with Barkhuizen’s (2020) narrative space analysis and Braun and Clarke’s (2006; 2013) inductive thematic analysis. The results of the study show that when a child is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the family experiences complex emotions,
ranging from shock to acceptance of the child, clarification of expectations, and the search for strategies for coping with everyday experiences. The dilemma of choosing a school emerges in this context. The family’s success is determined by daily communication with the school, the role of a student assistant, an appropriate classroom microclimate, and the support of the
school community. The study emphasized the limited availability of public services, fragmented educational assistance, and a lack of support specialists. Also, the study highlighted the need for and importance of case management to ensure appropriate and accessible interdisciplinary and interinstitutional assistance for autistic children and their families.