Special education and care services for children, adolescents, and adults with autism spectrum disorders in France: Families' opinion and satisfaction.
Parents stay loyal to motivated staff but walk when teams skip autism-specific tools and shut them out of planning.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Cécile et al. asked 1,000 French families about special-ed and care services for autistic children, teens, and adults. They used a mailed survey with 30 questions on staff, communication, and autism-specific tools.
Parents rated satisfaction on a 1–4 scale and wrote open comments. The team split answers by age group to see where frustration peaked.
What they found
Parents praised staff motivation but slammed poor communication and scant autism-specific methods. Dissatisfaction shot up for families of teens.
Only one in three parents felt truly involved in their child’s individual plan. Adult services scored lowest on useful follow-up.
How this fits with other research
McKinlay et al. (2022) extend the French worry into UK mainstream schools. Their interviews show parents still feel unheard and see kids bullied, matching the French call for real partnership.
Lineberry et al. (2023) move the same gap into adulthood. Less than a large share of UK autistic adults get any post-diagnosis support, echoing the French adult-service low marks.
Dudley et al. (2019) widen the lens to Arab and US families. Arab parents cite cost and stigma; US parents cite red tape. All three studies agree: more autism-specific tools and parent voice are wanted.
Pimentel Júnior et al. (2024) include the French data in a dental review. They find the same barriers—few trained staff, no sensory plans—showing the problem crosses medical and educational settings.
Why it matters
If parents of teens are the least happy, check your transition plans first. Add monthly parent meetings, share data sheets in plain French or English, and pick curricula that target autism-specific social and daily-living skills. Small fixes in communication and individualization raise satisfaction faster than adding new services.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study focused on parents' satisfaction with the special education and care services proposed to their child with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Data were collected in three regions of France, using a questionnaire designed for the purpose of this study. Among the 530 families contacted, 212 filled in the questionnaire (response rate = 40.8%). Results showed that parents were globally satisfied with providers' involvement and motivation, but they felt they were not involved enough in their child's individualized program, that communication with providers was insufficient and that the services lacked ASD's specific tools and interventions. Among all families interviewed, parents of adolescents were the most unsatisfied and we hypothesized that this could be due to the specific issues regarding developmental changes and concern about the future at this period of life. Congruently with the literature, variables related to parental overall satisfaction were a regular communication with professionals, a specific, regularly updated individual program in which parents are associated, and specialized tools and interventions. The implications of these findings are discussed as well as future directions for clinicians to improve service delivery and allow the persons with ASD and their families to be more involved in the services.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2014 · doi:10.1177/1362361312460952