From Someone Who May Cause Trouble to Someone You Can Play With: Stakeholders' Perspectives on Preschool Program Quality for Autistic Children.
Hampus Bejnö, Sven Bölte, Nina Linder, Ulrika Långh, Samuel L Odom, Lise Roll-Pettersson
Author Information
Hampus Bejnö: Department of Special Education, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden. hampus.bejno@specped.su.se. ORCID
Sven Bölte: Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Nina Linder: Department of Special Education, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden.
Ulrika Långh: Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Samuel L Odom: Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB 8180, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-8180, USA.
Lise Roll-Pettersson: Department of Special Education, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden.
In Sweden, young autistic children typically attend community-based preschool programs, which may not be adapted to their needs. In the current study, stakeholders to autistic children receiving Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention were interviewed following a quasi-randomized study (#NCT03634761) aimed at improving the preschool program quality using the Swedish version of the Autism Program Environment Rating Scale (APERS). Stakeholders provided their perceptions and experiences concerning key factors for high quality preschool programs as well as well as their experiences of the abovementioned APERS study. Applying thematic analysis, stakeholder groups differed in what they emphasized, but all highlighted staff's competence, children's inclusion and participation, collaboration, and the learning environment as key program areas that had been positively influenced by the APERS-based intervention.
