Samantha Friedman

The transition to primary school is typically more challenging for children with additional support needs (ASN). This is notable, as a positive experience at the transition to school is associated with greater wellbeing, school engagement, and academic outcomes. Practices and support for this transition are common and varied; however, the extent to which practices are appropriate or modified to support children with ASN to flourish during their first years of schooling is unclear. The UK government's recent aim to improve early school outcomes in England will necessitate an understanding of how to adequately support children with ASN at this transition. In this exploratory study, we interviewed seven teachers in England and Scotland about their experiences of supporting children with ASN at the transition to primary school. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we developed four themes: good intentions but lack of evidence for effective practice; differentiated practice is good, but changing the whole system would be better; neither country gets it quite right; and need to look beyond the initial transition. Findings reflect teachers' effort to meet the varied needs of children but highlight how the lack of guidance around recommended practice and cuts to funding limit their ability to provide support.

Autistic people often experience sensory overload in many everyday environments, but nature spaces, such as parks and woodlands, provide a more positive sensory experience for some. Still, nature can pose challenges, and little research has focused on Autistic adults’ sensory experiences in these settings.We conducted the first study exploring this topic, using an online mixed-methods survey of 113 Autistic adults. Quantitative analysis revealed that most participants engaged with nature by spending time outdoors, typically 1–5 hours per week, and were generally satisfied with this level of engagement. However, those with higher sensory hyperresponsivity and sensory seeking tendencies reported natural spaces as more disabling.Qualitative analysis of 107 responses revealed three key themes: (1) nature as a source of sensory regulation and restoration, (2) nature as an escape from overwhelming people and environments, and (3) moments when sensory challenges disrupted the connection with nature.Overall, many Autistic adults find nature restorative and supportive but also face barriers that can diminish its benefits or cause distress. These findings highlight the importance of designing inclusive outdoor spaces and programs that account for sensory needs. Supporting Autistic adults’ access to nature can promote well-being, inclusion, and meaningful connection with the environment.

In this chapter, we explore current practice in initial teacher education across the UK as it pertains to the information taught about autism and other forms of neurodivergence. We make clear connections between autistic-led theories, including neurodiversity, monotropism, and double empathy problem, and classroom practice, to demonstrate how a deeper understanding of autism through these lenses can better equip teachers to support and effectively relate to their autistic students. While we focus primarily on autism, these theories can and should transform classroom practice more broadly - not just for autistic learners, but also for other neurodivergent, disabled, and minoritised students. We also explore alternative educational approaches, and how they might work with the insights yielded by these theories. Teachers might wish to adopt elements of these practices in their own classrooms when they better understand the connections to autistic-led theory.

Internationally, there is a growing interest in both intergenerational practice and outdoor learning opportunities such as those provided in Forest School settings. This participatory action research project, planned by a university researcher and early years educators working together as co-researchers, set out to investigate intergenerational practice in an urban outdoor environment with children aged under 5 years, and older adults. The focus was upon interactions, knowledge exchange and benefits. Data from forest diaries, interviews and observations was analysed thematically, resulting in the development of four main themes relating to different forms of participation and their value for those involved: affective participation, collaborative participation, learning through intergenerational participation and challenging participation. This study contributes to the body of knowledge that highlights the value of intergenerational activity and suggests that opportunities should be sought to involve older adults in the lives of young children within early childhood education, particularly within informal outdoor places such as Forest School.

Connection to nature is an important concept for understanding human‐nature relationships, interests in nature and pro‐environmental behaviours. However, conceptualisations of this relationship thus far have excluded autistic perspectives. Through this reflexive thematic analysis of survey responses from 108 autistic participants in the UK, we sought to understand how autistic people define and experience connection to nature. Towards this aim, we developed three themes: ‘feeling that you benefit nature and nature benefits you’; ‘connecting with something ancient to which I nevertheless belong’; and ‘it makes me a little sad tbh.’ Across many participants in this sample, nature was not something they saw as separate from themselves (or from humans more generally), and so connection to nature was not a simple, unidirectional relationship nor a clear‐cut binary. Through this work, we hope to contribute towards the effort to imbue ecopsychology and related fields with the influences of critical disability studies. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Nature connection (also referred to as nature connectedness, connectedness to nature connection to nature, or nature relatedness) describes a positive relationship between humans and the natural world, with various benefits for both nature and humans. The latter include a small but robust positive correlation of nature connection with various types of wellbeing and flourishing. However, this correlation has been investigated meta-analytically in adults only; no meta-analysis to-date has investigated the relationship between nature connection and wellbeing in children and adolescents. This is the aim of the present study. We undertook searches through four databases (Google Scholar, ERIC, PsycInfo and Scopus). The criteria were (i) the mean age of participants is below 18, with no restrictions on sex or ethnicity and that they were drawn from the general population; (ii) that there were at least one explicit, non-dichotomised measure for nature connection and one for wellbeing and (iii) that there were adequate data reported so that we could record or compute the correlation coefficient between the main variables. Our systematic review identified twelve studies (k = 12) that fulfilled the criteria and could be included in the meta-analysis. The total sample (n = 30,075) included children and adolescents aged four to 18. An overall moderate significant effect was found (r = .31, 95% CI = .22-.41) for the relationship between nature connection and wellbeing in children and adolescents, which is comparable but slightly higher than the effect found in previous meta-analyses focused on adults.

Background: While previous work highlights the links between nature and various positive well-being-related outcomes, the experiences of autistic people in nature have received limited empirical research. Our study aimed at gathering autistic adults' perspectives on the relationship between nature and well-being in both childhood and adulthood. Methods: We used an online survey to capture the views of 127 autistic adults across the United Kingdom. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we analyzed responses to three questions focused on nature experiences in childhood and adulthood and how the participants felt that nature was (or was not) related to well-being. Guided by self-determination theory, we used both inductive and deductive analysis. Results: We developed three main themes to reflect the nature experiences of autistic adults: choosing to escape into nature, supporting relatedness through connecting in (and to) nature, and nature doesn't judge, but other people do . Compared with many other contexts, nature provides a non-judgmental space through which (in both childhood and adulthood) many, but not all, autistic individuals can meet individual needs and experience autonomy, relatedness, and competence. Conclusion: This analysis of how autistic adults in the United Kingdom utilize nature to support well-being has implications for how nature can be used in social prescribing as well as in ensuring that existing outdoor spaces, organizations, and activities are supportive of autistic people.