Autism shapes social integration and reciprocity in elementary classrooms

During childhood, schools are crucial environments for social interactions, making them ideal for evaluating the inclusion of students with special educational needs (SEN). In particular, autistic children often face challenges in peer relationships, yet the impact of autism on social dynamics in schools is not well understood. To address this issue, we examined social dynamics within elementary schools. We hypothesized that, compared to their non-autistic peers, autistic children occupy more peripheral positions in social networks and engage less in reciprocal relationships. To test these hypotheses, we introduced a novel ecological approach using experimental game theory to quantify social integration and reciprocity among autistic children. Social networks were constructed for each classroom based on the children's peer selections during a distributive game where they had to send tokens to their peers. Six elementary schools took part in this study. From these schools, 26 classrooms from first to fourth grade were included, comprising a total of 625 students aged 6 to 11. Among them, 464 were students without SEN, 143 were students with SEN excluding autism, and 18 were autistic students. Our analysis showed that autistic children and children with SEN were significantly less central and less involved in reciprocal peer relationships compared to children without SEN. Due to the small sample of autistic students, further research with greater statistical power is needed to clarify the specificity of the results. These findings highlight the need for support in promoting social inclusion while also emphasizing the importance of exploring the intersection of neurodevelopmental conditions and social dynamics.