Neurotypical interventions: A neurodiverse approach to school-based social communication support

Working under a neurodiversity paradigm, this proposal will investiagte potential differences in how autistic (A) and neurotypical (NT) children interact with each other (A-A and NT-NT) and between groups (A-NT). It will also consider whether A and NT individuals perceive these social interactions differently. Interactions will be coded while children (four groups of six children) for each condition, therefore N=72 (A=36 and NT=36), aged 8-12 years, recount a social scenario story, and jointly complete a spaghetti tower task along a diffucsion chain. A difficusion chain design (child 1 transmits to child 2 who transmits to 3, and so on) will be used as it allows cumulative effects of transmission, which are not always apparent in dyadic settings, to be examined. Ten NT and 10 A adults will code the interactions to see if there are differences in how they are perceived depending on the autistic diagnosis. A and NT children within the interactions will also be asked to about their experiences of the interaction to examine sunergies and differences from alternative perspectives. The information from these studies will inform the production of a resource for use in the classroom to support the social and emotional development of A and NT children. This resource will help autistic children develop an understanding of neurotypical children's thoughts and behaviours, and assist neurotypical children in their understanding of these in autistic children.