Transition to school for children with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review.
ABA lifts academic and self-care skills for autistic kindergarteners, yet social inclusion still needs teacher-run, peer-based tactics embedded in everyday class moments.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Marsh et al. (2017) pulled every paper they could find on starting school for kids with autism. They looked at studies from preschool through first grade.
The team asked: what helps these kids join class, make friends, and keep up with work?
What they found
Behavioral teaching works for letters, numbers, and self-care like opening lunch boxes. The same tactics did little for making friends or joining recess games.
Kids still stood alone at recess even after they learned to write their names.
How this fits with other research
Three later reviews agree social skills can be taught. Dudley et al. (2019), Aal Ismail et al. (2022), and Menezes et al. (2021) all show kids can learn greetings and play invites when schools run the programs.
The catch: those programs are run by researchers, not teachers, and happen outside the classroom. Marsh et al. saw the same gap — the skills stay in the therapy room, not the playground.
Kocher et al. (2015) lists ready-to-use preschool lessons for sitting in circle time or lining up. Those lessons fill part of the hole Marsh found, but they stop at kindergarten door.
Why it matters
You can boost reading and toileting with ABA, but peer interaction needs a new plan. Start small: pick one daily moment — snack, centers, or recess — and script two-step peer exchanges right there. Train a classmate to cue “hi” and share a toy. Take data for one week. If shares go up, you just moved social skills from therapy room to real life.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
To identify factors that promote a positive start to school for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Web of Science, MEDLINE, Scopus, and PsychINFO searches were conducted to identify literature published after 1991 and relevant to school transition processes in children with ASD. Twenty studies were deemed eligible for inclusion. These studies evaluated a range of factors including school readiness, parent and teacher perspectives on transition practices, characteristics of children with ASD that are associated with successful transition to school and the impact of school based intervention programs. A review of these studies showed that children with ASD are less school ready emotionally than their peers and those children with ASD appear to have more externalising behaviours and self-regulation difficulties that affect their school engagement and their relationships with their teachers. There was a paucity of research looking at interventions targeting school readiness. However, school-based behavioural interventions appear to improve cognitive, language and daily living skills, but have less impact on socialisation and peer inclusion. Children with ASD face more challenges transitioning to school, particularly with social interaction. Further development and implementation of specific school-based interventions is needed in order to assist children with autism to maximise their success in starting school.
World Journal of Psychiatry, 2017 · doi:10.5498/wjp.v7.i3.184