A primary goal of Australian education is for all students to become ‘successful learners, confident and creative individuals, and active and informed citizens’ (Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, 2008, p. 8). The development of social-emotional skills is considered key to reaching this goal (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, Reference Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor and Schellinger2011). As such, social-emotional learning (SEL) is an integral part of the personal social and community health strand, from foundation to Year 10, of the Australian National Health and Physical Education Curriculum (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2014). However, as identified by Walker et al. (Reference Walker, Carson, Jarvis, McMillan, Noble, Armstrong and Palmer2018), the Australian Curriculum does little to guide teachers in how to assess and meet the objectives of students with special education needs. While all teachers are expected to teach SEL to all students, there is a potential gap in knowledge and understanding of the SEL needs of special education needs students.

SEL arose from theories of emotional intelligence and is described as a set of learned skills or emotional competence including emotional self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, and the ability to regulate others’ emotions (Goleman, Reference Goleman2005). The social-emotional developmental framework suggests that skills emerge in infancy and continue to develop throughout adolescence and into adulthood (Zeidner, Matthews, & Roberts, Reference Zeidner, Matthews and Roberts2009). The sequential pattern of development begins with basic emotional competence (such as identifying one’s own emotions), which lays the foundation for more complex skills (such as emotional regulation and social skills; National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2004). The social-emotional developmental framework stipulates that effective social skills and positive outcomes in life, such as academic achievement and work success, are reliant on the earlier development of emotional competence (Zeidner et al., Reference Zeidner, Matthews and Roberts2009).

Given the importance of SEL, researchers have focused on developing evidence-based teaching programs targeted at the development of social-emotional skills in school settings (Gregory, Herreen, & Brinkman, Reference Gregory, Herreen and Brinkman2018). The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning group in the United States has identified five interrelated core social-emotional competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, 2018). These core competencies contribute to the theoretical basis for SEL in educational departments across Australia (Cahill et al., Reference Cahill, Meakin, Smith, Beadle, Farrelly, Higham and Crofts2018; Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation, 2015; Gregory et al., Reference Gregory, Herreen and Brinkman2018; Queensland Government Department of Education, Training and the Arts, 2008; Tasmanian Government Department of Education, 2016). SEL programs for typically developing students are aimed at being universal, with the most effective SEL programs being those that are sequenced, focused, explicitly taught, and involve active engagement of the student (Durlak et al., Reference Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor and Schellinger2011). Although historically there was a focus on teaching social and emotional skills in the early years, more recently researchers have focused on early adolescence as being another period of important development in teaching SEL (Main, Reference Main2018).

Adolescence is a time of transition from child to adult. Along with the physical changes in puberty, social networks become more complex and demanding, conflict increases, and mood swings can lead to adolescents feeling overwhelmed by emotions (Humphrey, Curran, Morris, Farrell, & Woods, Reference Humphrey, Curran, Morris, Farrell and Woods2007). Adolescents with poor social-emotional competence are at greater risk for emotional dysregulation and mental health concerns (Humphrey et al., Reference Humphrey, Curran, Morris, Farrell and Woods2007; Spence, Reference Spence2003). However, neuroscientists have found that during adolescence major brain changes are occurring, providing an opportunity for explicit teaching of social-emotional competence to this student population (Robinson, Reference Robinson2017). Yet studies of evidence-based SEL programs taught in high schools have found them to be less effective and often failing to engage students (Yeager, Reference Yeager2017). As SEL programs are often designed for a younger population, it is hypothesised that they may not reflect the different learning needs of adolescents (Main, Reference Main2018). For example, one Australian-developed program, Aussie Optimism, was found to have varied evidence for developing social and emotional skills and promoting mental health, with greater improvements in primary aged students than high school students (Gregory et al., Reference Gregory, Herreen and Brinkman2018; Johnstone, Rooney, Hassan, & Kane, Reference Johnstone, Rooney, Hassan and Kane2014). Furthermore, although many SEL programs are designed to be universal, when supporting students with special education needs, such as students on the autism spectrum, adaptations are required to ensure that the current skill base and learning support needs of the population are understood and specifically targeted (Berkovits, Eisenhower, & Blacher, Reference Berkovits, Eisenhower and Blacher2017).

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), or autism, represents a growing special education needs population. In Australia, approximately 2.8% of children and adolescents aged 5 to 14 years old are reported as being on the autism spectrum (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015). A key diagnostic criterion for autism is linked to social understanding and social communication; this includes understanding their own and other people’s emotions and managing these appropriately (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Social-emotional difficulties can result in a range of challenges, including increased negative emotional response in social situations (Woodcock, Cheung, González Marx, & Mandy, Reference Woodcock, Cheung, González Marx and Mandy2020), restricted social participation (Ghanouni et al., Reference Ghanouni, Jarus, Zwicker, Lucyshyn, Chauhan and Moir2019), and difficulty regulating emotions (Samson et al., Reference Samson, Phillips, Parker, Shah, Gross and Hardan2014). In an Australian needs analysis, addressing social-emotional needs was identified as a priority by educators, specialists, and parents of students on the autism spectrum (Saggers et al., Reference Saggers, Klug, Harper-Hill, Ashburner, Costley, Clark, Bruck, Trembath, Webster and Carrington2015). To improve the lives of students on the autism spectrum, researchers have highlighted the need for explicit teaching of social-emotional competency, including recognising and labelling emotions, sharing feelings (Bernier, Webb, & Dawson, Reference Bernier, Webb, Dawson, Marshall and Fox2006), and building emotion-based language and communication (McGee, Feldman, & Chernin, Reference McGee, Feldman and Chernin1991).

Social-emotional difficulties are also associated with poorer mental health in children on the autism spectrum (Ratcliffe, Wong, Dossetor, & Hayes, Reference Ratcliffe, Wong, Dossetor and Hayes2015). Over 70% of individuals on the autism spectrum will also have a mental health disorder (Brereton, Tonge, & Einfeld, Reference Brereton, Tonge and Einfeld2006; Lai et al., Reference Lai, Kassee, Besney, Bonato, Hull, Mandy and Ameis2019). Furthermore, adolescence is particularly challenging for individuals on the autism spectrum and may contribute to their higher rates of mental illness (Mackay, Shochet, & Orr, Reference Mackay, Shochet and Orr2017). However, while the emotional development of adolescents on the autism spectrum is poorly understood, intensive targeted programs aimed at social skills development have resulted in improvements in children and adolescents on the autism spectrum (Anderson, Oti, Lord, & Welch, Reference Anderson, Oti, Lord and Welch2009; Mazefsky et al., Reference Mazefsky, Herrington, Siegel, Scarpa, Maddox, Scahill and White2013; Ratcliffe et al., Reference Ratcliffe, Wong, Dossetor and Hayes2015).

Targeted evidence-based emotions-focused programs in autism are considered crucial in promoting mental health (Wong et al., Reference Wong, Odom, Hume, Cox, Fettig, Kucharczyk and Schultz2014). However, there is a severe lack of evidence-based SEL programs developed for adolescents on the autism spectrum that focus on teaching emotional competence (Saggers et al., Reference Saggers, Klug, Harper-Hill, Ashburner, Costley, Clark, Bruck, Trembath, Webster and Carrington2015). Given the time constraints and competing demands in schools, evidence-based strategies should form the basis of teaching (Durlak et al., Reference Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor and Schellinger2011). Several general autism strategies have been agreed upon as evidence-based practice for teaching students on the autism spectrum. These include video modelling, explicit teaching of new skills and behaviours, and the use of praise and rewards when new behaviours are demonstrated (de Bruin, Deppeler, Moore, & Diamond, Reference de Bruin, Deppeler, Moore and Diamond2013). However, such strategies are not always implemented in schools, leading to a research–practice gap (Durlak et al., Reference Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor and Schellinger2011). Explorations of the gap have suggested that teachers have not been provided with enough training, resources, or time, or that evidence-based strategies lack social validity when transferred from a clinical or home-based setting to a school setting (Alexander, Ayres, & Smith, Reference Alexander, Ayres and Smith2015). Furthermore, when such strategies do not exist, the onus of developing curriculum and resources for special education needs students rely on self-directed teacher adaptations (Walker et al., Reference Walker, Carson, Jarvis, McMillan, Noble, Armstrong and Palmer2018). This presents an additional challenge, as teachers often report a lack of confidence in knowing what and how to teach SEL, and they are therefore more reluctant to incorporate SEL into their classroom (Main, Reference Main2018).

It is accepted that teachers have an important role to play in fostering social and emotional development in students. In mainstream student populations, SEL has been shown to be successfully implemented by teachers (Durlak et al., Reference Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor and Schellinger2011). However, within the social-emotional domain, only the single aspect of social skills has been extensively explored in students on the autism spectrum. Research is often limited, with only a few studies focusing on high school settings, and even fewer focusing on adolescents on the autism spectrum with an additional intellectual disability (Laugeson, Ellingsen, Sanderson, Tucci, & Bates, Reference Laugeson, Ellingsen, Sanderson, Tucci and Bates2014).

A few evidence-based, manualised social skills programs have demonstrated social skills improvement in children and adolescents on the autism spectrum. These include PEERS^® (Programme for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills), developed in America (Laugeson, Reference Laugeson2014), Kontakt, which translates to ‘contact’ in German and Swedish and was developed in Germany (Herbrecht, Bölte, & Poustka, Reference Herbrecht, Bölte and Poustka2007), and Secret Agent Society, developed in Australia (Beaumont, Reference Beaumont2010). However, none of these programs are aimed at teaching social-emotional skills to adolescents on the autism spectrum with an additional intellectual disability. Furthermore, as these programs focus on the explicit teaching of social skills, they also have minimal to no content that is centred on developing emotional competence.

Two manualised evidence-based emotions-focused programs for children on the autism spectrum, developed by Australian clinical psychologists, are the Westmead Feelings Programs (Westmead Feelings Program 1 [WFP1]; Ratcliffe et al., Reference Ratcliffe, Wong, Dossetor, Grahame, Brice and Carroll2017; Westmead Feelings Program 2 [WFP2]; Wong et al., Reference Wong, Lopes, Heriot, Brice, Carroll, Ratcliffe and Dossetor2018) and Secret Agent Society: Operation Regulation (SAS-OR; Beaumont, Reference Beaumont2013). Both have demonstrated an increase in emotional competence (Ratcliffe, Wong, Dossetor, & Hayes, Reference Ratcliffe, Wong, Dossetor and Hayes2014; Ratcliffe, Wong, Dossetor, & Hayes, Reference Ratcliffe, Wong, Dossetor and Hayes2019; Weiss et al., Reference Weiss, Thomson, Burnham Riosa, Albaum, Chan, Maughan and Black2018; Wong, Ratcliffe, & Li, Reference Wong, Ratcliffe and Li2018). With additional professional development training, teachers have demonstrated that they can effectively implement WFP1 and WFP2 to students on the autism spectrum, both with and without intellectual disability (Wong et al., Reference Wong, Lopes, Heriot, Brice, Carroll, Ratcliffe and Dossetor2018). However, both WFP and SAS-OR have been developed for primary age students. SAS-OR is also limited in that it only teaches emotional regulation to students on the autism spectrum without an intellectual disability and requires one-to-one implementation (Weiss et al., Reference Weiss, Thomson, Burnham Riosa, Albaum, Chan, Maughan and Black2018). Thus, there is a significant gap in SEL programs for adolescents on the autism spectrum, both with and without an intellectual disability.

Given the benefits of teaching social-emotional skills to adolescents on the autism spectrum in school settings, it is important that programs initially designed for clinical intervention will translate into a classroom environment and meet the curriculum needs of the students (Greenway, McCollow, Hudson, Peck, & Davis, Reference Greenway, McCollow, Hudson, Peck and Davis2013). Teachers, even those trained to deliver an evidence-based practice, can negate any benefits if the program is not seen as having a good ecological fit (Alexander et al., Reference Alexander, Ayres and Smith2015). Previous researchers have found that more experienced teachers have a deeper understanding of the needs of their students, yet they are often ‘left out [of the] dialogue’ by researchers (Greenway et al., Reference Greenway, McCollow, Hudson, Peck and Davis2013, p. 463). Qualitative approaches can strengthen research by capturing complex and rich information that may be otherwise neglected (Bricki & Green, Reference Bricki and Green2007). Thus, to develop an authentic and socially valid school-based SEL program for adolescents on the autism spectrum, an essential first step is to understand high school teachers’ perspectives and experiences. Nevertheless, there is currently a lack of research investigating teacher perspectives of SEL of high school students on the autism spectrum. Therefore, the aim of this preliminary study was to undertake a qualitative investigation to gain insights into the SEL needs of adolescents on the autism spectrum with and without intellectual disability, from the perspective of high school teachers.

Results

All participants indicated that they either agreed or strongly agreed that the focus group format of both computer-based written input and verbal discussions worked well for them and ensured their perspective and views were captured. All participants strongly agreed that their opinions were reflected in the focus group. Three themes emerged from the thematic analysis. Under each theme were four to five subthemes (see Table 1).

Table 1. Themes Emerging From Focus Group on High School Teachers’ Perspectives of the Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Needs of Students on the Autism Spectrum

Note. ASD = autism spectrum disorder; IM = mild intellectual disability; SSP = school for specific purposes.

SEL Needs of High School Students on the Autism Spectrum

Common high school issues

Teachers reported that there are common factors for every student going through high school and going through puberty. These include high school friendship ‘dramas’ and experiencing new and pleasurable sexual physical sensations, and sometimes sexual frustration. Friendships become ‘massive in high school’. Some friendships might become romantic relationships. The current Personal Development, Health and Physical Education school curriculum includes discussions around boundaries, being safe online, and knowing which behaviours are appropriate, and changes during puberty. There is a need to understand and teach this content to students, regardless of their disability. The key message was that all ‘teenagers need to learn what is appropriate, it is not shameful, it is okay’; however, there is a right time and place. It was also noted that high school, and particularly in the school playground, can be a socially and emotionally challenging place for many teenagers, regardless of special needs.

Additional considerations associated with autism

It is important to understand the special learning needs of students on the autism spectrum, including how intellectual or cognitive difficulties can impact students on the autism spectrum. Teachers described the core features of autism, including difficulties in social communication, such as theory of mind, black and white thinking, and difficulty with perspective taking or understanding the consequences of their behaviour on others. A student’s lack of insight often resulted in them reporting that they were being bullied in the playground. The teachers could see that the student on the autism spectrum had inadvertently behaved in a way that annoyed the other students, and eventually the other students had enough and responded back. However, the student on the autism spectrum could not make this connection – they only felt victimised. Teachers also mentioned students’ restricted and repetitive behaviours, or special interest areas, and sensory sensitives and sensory regulation difficulties. Teachers all acknowledged that teaching students on the autism spectrum required a specific set of skills and professional understanding. For students on the autism spectrum in high school, there was also concern for the student’s level of self-confidence. These students are becoming increasing aware that they are different from mainstream students, and that their differences limit their life options. Feelings like jealousy and resentment were used to describe how these students felt towards their mainstream peers. The students’ awareness of their difference seemed to increase with cognitive ability. Teachers noted that students were critical of themselves and this resulted in lower self-confidence. Teachers reported that parents seemed to have a limited understanding of their child’s disability, which resulted in teachers also having to educate the parents about their child’s support needs.

Emotional competence

Skills specific to SEL were broken down into emotional competence and social skills. Teachers reported that the majority of their students on the autism spectrum could label and identify happy and a few other basic emotions, with some requiring prompting from teachers. However, overall, their students’ emotional competence was underdeveloped. Most students on the autism spectrum struggled to identify a range of emotions, both in themselves and in others. Physical feelings were sometimes confused with emotions (both by teachers and by students). One teacher reported that her student could identify the feeling ‘tired’. Another teacher told a story of a student who would say they ‘feel sick’ when the student was actually expressing the physical sensation connected to feeling worried. Students on the autism spectrum were reported to struggle to recognise their not-so-good emotions, needing external teacher support to regulate their emotions. Some students required constant reassurance to alleviate their anxiety. In many cases, teachers reported that some students’ emotional challenges led to frustration and externalising explosive behaviours or withdrawal and internalising invisible distress. For some students, mental health was being impacted, particularly by anxiety. The students’ difficulty self-managing their emotions was also limiting their ability to engage fully in the school curriculum, including community access: ‘it does make his world smaller’. For some, emotional outbursts were also confusing to other students and could trigger distress in classmates due to sensory sensitivities. Students on the autism spectrum were often unable to articulate or identify triggers for their behaviours. Finally, students on the autism spectrum had little insight into how others were feeling or the skills to respond to a distressed peer.

Social skills needs

While some teachers reported that students on the autism spectrum showed little social motivation, other students were described as being very socially interested but lacking the social skills to make and keep friends: ‘One boy, you can tell he’s desperate to make friends, but you can just see in his body almost, he is unable to articulate and get out what he needs to even talk to somebody’. Social skills identified by the teachers included initiating, processing, and maintaining conversations, respecting boundaries, including personal space, managing conflict (small problems as well as bigger problems), using socially appropriate behaviours, and being able to bond with others. Unlike emotional competence, teachers frequently reported teaching social skills to their students.

Teaching SEL to High School Students on the Autism Spectrum

Utilising evidence-based autism-specific teaching strategies

Regardless of the content of the lesson, teachers all recognised that autism-specific teaching strategies worked well with their students on the autism spectrum. These evidence-based strategies included using visual supports, including photos of the student, creating individualised social stories, video modelling, using schedules and choice boards, displaying behaviour expectations, reinforcing appropriate behaviour with rewards charts and tangible rewards, collecting data, providing breaks, having a structured classroom layout, and structuring learning tasks. Providing opportunities for repetition was also helpful for students with both autism and intellectual disability. Students learned best when concepts were made concrete and personalised. As one teacher said, ‘it’s their face so they can put themselves into that situation’.

Adapting what is available

All teachers agreed that it would be very beneficial to have access to a program that anticipated the SEL needs of their students, allowed for flexibility of implementation, and could be individualised to their students. However, they also agreed that in a high school setting for students on the autism spectrum, such a program is not currently available. Teachers therefore aimed to adapt curriculum guidelines and teach SEL in other ways. Some schools have developed their own emotion colour charts, aiming to teach students to identify and label their emotions. Many implement sensory strategies to try to calm the student or block out upsetting triggers, which might include jumping on a trampoline or allowing the student to wear noise-cancelling headphones. Students were offered time out when they became emotionally dysregulated. Social skills programs were implemented in most schools in one form or another, often adapting mainstream content to meet their students’ perceived needs. One school included one-to-one mentoring for their high support needs students. Another school promoted involvement in social and work experience programs. However, these approaches tended to be more reactive or attempts at a best fit of the current curriculum.

Limited emotional competence resources

When asked about specific interventions or support currently available to address emotional development needs of the student on the autism spectrum, teachers reported that there was ‘not much at school level that I am aware of’. Emotional dysregulation was often seen as a classroom management issue and therefore dealt with through strategies such as ‘timeout, verbal discussions or rewards’. Some schools developed their own emotional literacy programs but reported that such programs need to be tailored to the individual. Teachers were most familiar with emotion regulation strategies used by students, referring to them as ‘wellbeing strategies’, which included deep breathing, distraction, shifting to a more pleasurable activity (often linked to the student’s special interest), physical activity (such as dancing, going for a walk, or jumping on the trampoline), or talking with a teacher about the problem, their thoughts or feelings. Teachers sometimes reported working together with the student to problem solve. Some teachers reported that their student responded to having a break and some quiet time to reflect on the situation. However, as one teacher noted, the real challenge for teachers is knowing which strategy to implement when and with which student.

Different settings and students

Teachers in the focus group represented a range of educational settings: public and private schools, mainstream settings, support units, and schools for specific purposes. The practicalities of teaching social-emotional content to students on the autism spectrum in high school varies greatly depending on the school, type of class, and specific learning needs of the class. Funding, time allocation, resources, and requirements of the curriculum all impacted on the type of SEL currently being implemented in schools. These same factors would also influence the best fit for a program within each individual school. In some classes, SEL would be best taught in a small group for short periods of time with increased teacher support. In other schools, a whole-class approach would be required, and the program would need to clearly map onto the new Australian Curriculum, with ready-to-use resources. Some schools had flexibility in when a lesson could be held, whereas others would need to fit with the timetable. Overall, teachers felt most comfortable with a SEL program that provided them with the required resources and allowed the teacher to determine how the content would best be delivered in their class to their students. The teachers also recognised that although a structured classroom environment assisted with learning, the student must also learn the harder task of adjusting their behaviour to match the context and to generalise their skills to settings outside the classroom, such as the playground, community, and home.

Who is currently supporting SEL?

While most of the focus group indicated that the class teacher was the best person to teach SEL, others indicated a great diversity in who would be best to deliver these programs to students on the autism spectrum. Within the school this could include school learning support officers, roll call teachers, health teachers, year coordinators, and school counsellors. It was also recognised that SEL should also be taught outside the school, primarily by parents and family, but also by behaviour therapists, speech therapists, doctors, and other specialists. Professional development for all staff was a priority. Having all staff and parents training in the same program was considered beneficial to the effectiveness of the program and ensured a consistent approach. As one teacher commented, ‘gaps arise through having different teachers with varied teaching styles and strategies’.

Identified Gaps in SEL

Role of parents

While having training for both teachers and parents was considered important, it was also acknowledged that currently no such professional development or training program exists. Teachers reported that although involvement from parents often reduces in a high school setting, with special education needs students, parent–teacher collaboration and shared language remains very important. Teachers also acknowledged that parents did not always agree on what skills the students need. One teacher spoke about a parent who did not want their child on the autism spectrum with an additional intellectual disability to learn about child studies, as they did not want them to ‘learn about sex and babies’. Some parents were embarrassed to address adolescent issues such as same sex attraction and masturbation. Teachers believed it was important to foster a relationship that allowed for explicit conversations around sexual development and sexual expression. It was suggested that having parent workshops could assist with building the home–school connection, developing shared language, and supporting the generalisation of new skills. It could also assist the parents in building their understanding of their child in a supportive environment where they could role-play being an emotional coach for their child. When a student has additional mental health issues, teachers identified an even greater need to create a space for collaboration and mutual support. One teacher said we are ‘working hard with the student, and probably more importantly, with mum’.

Gaps in SEL programming

The focus group participants were able to identify many gaps in SEL programs and the impact of those gaps on the individual and school. For example, the gap between learning a skill in the classroom and then being able to use it when needed in a different setting: ‘That’s when all hell breaks loose … bridging the gap between the nice supportive environment and managing yourself and regulating your own emotions and behaviour is really hard’. Teachers spoke of specific areas where there was either a lack of resources or a lack of adapted program for students on the autism spectrum in high school. While it was identified that across the board for students on the autism spectrum there is a lack of resources, in SEL, this included autism-specific social skills, sexuality, online safety, puberty, and mental health support targeted at adolescents. Teachers would often take any resources available for mainstream students and attempt to adapt them to meet their special education needs students. However, that takes time, additional resources, and a specific skill set. Teachers are already poor in both time and funding; therefore, they identified that it would be easiest for them if ‘targeted programs included resources and showed how it was aligned to some of the outcomes in the syllabus, because programming is a never-ending task’. Teachers also identified that helping their students on the autism spectrum manage their emotions was particularly hard. Mental health and trauma create an even more complex situation, one in which many teachers felt ill-equipped to support. When shown the suggested content of the Westmead Feelings Program, adapted for high school students on the autism spectrum and a mild intellectual disability (Gardner, Wong, & Ratcliffe, Reference Gardner, Wong and Ratcliffe2020), one teacher commented there is a ‘huge lack of resources and programs, and this program looks like a great start’.

Gaps in understanding of social and emotional development

While the teachers had a variety of backgrounds, many with years of experience working with special needs students, including autism and intellectual disability, one subtheme that emerged from the focus group was the limited understanding of the emotional competences and the sequential development of these skills. When asked about the teachers’ understanding of social and/or emotional needs, one teacher put forward that it referred to ‘developing their theory of mind and sensory regulation, emotional regulation, those things’. Although some teachers identified that students on the autism spectrum needed support to ‘learn how to understand their own emotions, the emotions of others, the reasons for these emotions and how to respond’, there were limited ideas for how these skills could be taught in a high school setting. Furthermore, strategies discussed were often not evidence-based strategies, and at times were strategies that would target more complex emotional competence, social skills, or support sensory needs. Gaps in the reporting of foundation-level emotional competence and social skills strategies also reflected the diversity of the student population and teacher experience.

Every student on the autism spectrum is unique

Teachers’ experiences and perspectives of the special education needs of students on the autism spectrum highlighted that the ‘needs are just so diverse when you are talking about ASD’. What worked best for teachers was using a personalised adjusted Personal Development, Health and Physical Education curriculum that matched the individual students’ learning needs. Some students displayed a range of emotions, others did not. Some responded to emotion regulation strategies, others would escalate. Some students would manage a more intensive program, others required more gradual learning opportunities. Some were socially motivated, others preferred their own space. Some would dominate a small group discussion, others would be more shy and quiet. Level of cognitive ability needs to be considered in developing teaching programs. Teachers all agreed that while students on the autism spectrum, both with and without an intellectual disability, are all so different, their social-emotional needs remain high. It was agreed that teaching social-emotional competence skills is most effective when utilising an individualised approach, and the person who knows best what will work for each student is their class teacher.