Reducing Barriers in Neurodiverse Schools-schAUT: A Program to Identify and Reduce Barriers for Autistic and All...

Area of Science:

• Education
• Psychology
• Sociology

Background:

• The project schAUT addressed barriers to learning and participation in mainstream schools, focusing on autistic students.
• Initiated by Humboldt University Berlin and Goethe University Frankfurt a.M., funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and reduce barriers to learning and participation for autistic students in mainstream schools.
• To introduce a questionnaire and program for School Organizational Development (SOD) to foster equitable and accessible learning environments.
• To ground strategies in international frameworks on inclusive education and the concept of neurodiversity.

Main Methods:

• Combined qualitative and quantitative approaches to examine subjective experiences of barriers.
• Utilized a multi-phase development and validation process for data collection.
• Employed participatory research methods.

Main Results:

• Neurodivergent participants reported higher subjective barriers compared to neurotypical participants.
• Barriers were found to affect neurotypical students as well, indicating a subjective nature of these challenges.
• Findings support the relevance of neurodiversity in educational contexts.

Conclusions:

• The study supports Larrauri et al.'s Big-Tent approach to neurodiversity, balancing individual variability with structural biases.
• Multiperspective approaches in research and SOD are valuable for developing inclusive educational strategies.
• Neurodiversity-informed decision-making can enable equitable learning environments for all students.