Determinants of Inclusion in Mainstream School for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders from the EpiTED Study: A 10-Year Follow-up Cohort.
Kids with autism get fewer mainstream hours if they have more behavior issues or lower parent SES—check your caseload for equitable access.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Lafont et al. (2023) followed French children with autism for ten years. They wanted to know who gets more time in regular classrooms and who gets less.
The team looked at early skills, behavior, and family income. They checked how many hours each child spent in mainstream school each week.
What they found
Kids with lower daily-living skills, severe behavior problems, or parents in lower-level jobs got fewer mainstream hours. Many children also received far less therapy than experts recommend.
In short: the kids who struggle most often get the least inclusive time and the least help.
How this fits with other research
Rattaz et al. (2020) used the same French cohort and saw the same pattern: more adaptive deficits or behavior issues meant less inclusion. The new study simply watches the children longer.
Klein et al. (2024) and Anonymous (2024) show the same gap in the United States. Lower-income and minority families receive fewer weekly ABA hours, matching the French inclusion gap.
Lacroix et al. (2026) extend the idea to older students. Social-communication problems keep limiting participation even after preschool, so the need for support does not fade.
Why it matters
Check your caseload for kids from lower-SES families or those with tough behavior. They may be stuck in smaller special-ed rooms with light service hours. Push for more mainstream time, add behavior support, and track whether they actually receive the minutes written in the IEP. Fair access starts with you spotting the gap.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: This study took place in the context of recent legislation enacted in several countries--including France--and aimed at promoting inclusion of children with intellectual disabilities. It focuses on young children with autism and examines the links between the children's characteristics and their weekly hours of regular-classroom inclusion and intervention in specialised setting. METHOD: Standardised clinical and sociodemographic data were collected for 77 children with autism, along with data about their interventional programmes. RESULTS: The study showed that the number of hours of inclusion at school was influenced by the children's behavioural and adaptive characteristics, as well as by the socioprofessional category of their parents, although these factors did not affect the number of hours spent in specialised setting. Moreover, the total amount of time per week spent in interventional services of any kind was very small for some of the children. CONCLUSION: The time spent in special-intervention services and regular classrooms combined did not add up to an adequate number of weekly hours for these children, particularly those exhibiting at least one of the following characteristics: low adaptation level, major behavioural problems or low socioprofessional category of parents.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2023 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2008.01100.x