Parenting, discipline, and educational preferences for children on the autism spectrum – a survey of parental attitudes

This paper presentation reports upon a pilot project involving a self-completion questionnaire aimed at measuring if there is any correlation between parenting style and educational ideologies parents have regarding the education of their children on the autistic spectrum. This research aim is also accompanied by the wider objective of finding out which educational methods are preferred by parents and the reasons given for these choices. This pilot study is part of piloting a variety of research methods in gathering data for a wider PhD project, the working title for which being: ‘Educational discourse and the autistic student: an ‘inside-out’ approach.’ This paper presentation gives an overview of these findings, before relating this research to the wider conference theme of the ‘purpose of educational research’, in terms of the need to listen and act upon the ‘voices’ of various stakeholders involved in educational practice.