Does preventive disclosure influence peer engagement and inclusion for children with neurodevelopmental disabilities in community and free play contexts?
Taking part in meaningful social activities and relationships is important to health, development and quality of life. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at high risk of being left out and bullied by their peers. They take part in fewer community programs than their peers, even when compared to other children with other disabilities. Strategies to help peers change their attitudes about disability may help them accept children with ASD. Preventive disclosure is one way of changing peers attitudes. Preventive disclosure is when peers are told and educated about one's hidden disability. Previous studies have concluded that preventive disclosure of an ASD diagnosis to peers may improve how much peers interact with and include a child with ASD; however, these conclusions were all based on hypothetical vignettes. No studies have looked at actual outcomes in real life settings. This study will look at these outcomes in real life settings. We will include school-aged children (5-12 years) with ASD who go to community-based programs. Children with ASD will share the label (i.e., autism) and also a little bit of information about ASD. We will observe how their peers engage with and include them before they know the diagnosis, and then after they know the diagnosis. We will also observe children with ASD who choose not to disclose their diagnosis to see how their peers engage with and include them over time. This will help us understand if the disclosure made a difference or if just time in the program with peers made the difference to how peers engage with and include children with ASD. We will talk with program leaders, children with ASD, and peers of children who shared their diagnosis to understand what they think about outcomes of disclosure. Parents often wonder if sharing their child's diagnosis will increase understanding and inclusion, or increase exclusion and bullying. This study will help us understand outcomes of disclosure to support increased social inclusion of children with ASD, which is important to their health and well-being.