Dear Parent / Caregiver,
I am looking for some assistance and input from parents / caregivers of adolescents with autism / ASD attending 1st or 2nd year of mainstream secondary schools. I am a lecturer in the discipline of Occupational Therapy, Trinity College Dublin, and have just commenced a PhD programme in the Children’s Research Centre TCD with the School of Psychology. I would like to research the experiences of children with autism / ASD transitioning into secondary school in Ireland. I am aware that this is an important, exciting and often challenging time for children / adolescents and their families. As a first step I would like set up some focus groups of parents / caregivers of adolescents with autism / ASD who have already made the transition. I really want to understand the current situation from parent / caregiver perspectives and also begin to gather information about transitions into secondary school in terms of policy and supports. I'm particularly interested in how perhaps children coming from different services / types of schools etc may have different experiences. I would be delighted to hear from you if you would be interested in participating in one of these focus group discussions (at a place and time of convenience). At this stage I am in the processing of gaining ethical approval, so will not be formally commencing the study for a month or two. Please e-mail or contact me (details below) if you think you would like to participate in a focus group discussion or would like more details about the study.
With thanks,
Yours sincerely,
Lecturer
Discipline of Occupational Therapy
Trinity Centre for Health Sciences
St James Hospital
Dublin 8
ph: +353 1 8963813
Ph.D. candidate in Child & Youth Research
Children's Research Centre
Trinity College
Dublin 2, Ireland
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