'I like being autistic': Assessing the benefit of autistic-led psychoeducation for autistic children

BackgroundDespite receiving autism diagnoses in early life, autistic children are not routinely supported to understand these diagnoses post-diagnostically (1). Consequently, they typically grow-up lacking an accurate understanding of what it means to be autistic on both a collective and individual level (2). Without this foundational knowledge, childrens understanding of autism is garnered from how others perceive their autism, resulting in an understanding of autism, and of themselves, that is inherently negative (3). This lack of appreciation of their own individual needs, also denies them the important self-understanding afforded by the diagnosis in the first instance, alongside the opportunity to effectively self-advocate for themselves when these needs go unmet. AimsHere we sought to directly assess the benefit of a pre-recorded, online autistic-led psychoeducation course about autism and the lived experience of being autistic (i.e., NeuroBears https://www.pandasonline.org), for childrens understanding of autism and their autistic experiences, their feeling about being autistic, their communication with others about their autistic experiences, and their confidence to self-advocate for their needs. MethodsUsing a concurrent embedded mixed-methods, repeated-measures design, autistic children (aged 8-14 years), completed a bespoke questionnaire exploring the above topics, both before and after completing NeuroBears at home with a nominated safe adult. A total of 63 children (mean age=10.57 years) completed sufficient content to be included in the analysis. ResultsSignificant benefit was observed across a range of areas, including a significant improvement in the childrens knowledge and understanding of being autistic and of their unique strengths and challenges, a significant rebalancing of how the children viewed being autistic, evidence of emerging positive autistic identities and a growing sense of belongingness, a significant change in the childrens abilities to communicate about being autistic, and evidence of strengthening self-advocacy skills. ConclusionLearning about autism in a neutral and non-stigmatizing manner, and presented through the lens of autistic lived experience, conferred numerous benefits on autistic childrens self-understanding, emergent autistic identity, sense of belonging, and on their communication/self-advocacy skills. Future work is needed to establish the downstream benefits on wellbeing and quality of life.