Peer support amongst autistic children: an examination of the communication structure in small-group discussions

Purpose - Over the past decade, many studies have investigated peer support between neurotypical and neurodivergent children. Less is known about how autistic children support each other in educational contexts, especially in basic education, where child-adult interactions are still predominant. This study aims to investigate whether and how autistic children supported each other in small-group discussions in the first years of basic education. This paper focused on unraveling the communication structures of these supportive events, aiming to understand further how autistic children make sense of social interactions and intersubjective processes that require peer support. Design/methodology/approach - Building on conversation analysis methods, this paper analyzed the transcripts of the small-group discussions, identifying and analyzing the construction of support in children's dialogues. Nine Finnish children (7-10 years old) attending mainstream school in Finland under intensified support in part-time special classrooms participated in this study. The study adopted a specific method called Idea Diary to frame the small-group discussions. The teacher guided the conversations, providing a dynamic structure for children's interactions, but students were encouraged to interact among themselves. This paper recorded 11 sessions within the six-month implementation of the Idea Diary, totaling 240 min of data. Findings - Results show that the children recognized situations where other children needed support in interactions and intervened in ways that promoted the continuation of the conversation and the clarification of ideas. Autistic children were sensitive to peers' unspoken needs, capable of identifying subtle nuances of conversation dynamics and able to express support through comments and questions during the small-group discussions. Originality/value - This study provides insights into the understudied phenomenon of peer support among autistic children in small-group discussions. It contributes to the growing corpus of research dedicated to exploring and revealing social competencies among autistic people. It discusses implications for developing educational practices that foster social interactions respecting the quality of autistic interactions and the interests of autistic students.