Abstract
This qualitative study investigated the psychosocial support that schools offer learners diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder [ASD], investigating what support is currently available and what should be provided to assist them with their educational needs. The participating school was a remedial school with both primary and secondary school facilities. The study was grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory. Data was collected through questionnaires, interviews, and incomplete sentences with three children diagnosed with ASD, three parents of children diagnosed with ASD and four teacher participants of children diagnosed with ASD. The psychological findings indicate that these learners are having anxiety due to communication difficulties, psychological meltdowns, avoidance tasks, and psychological vulnerability due to not receiving counselling. The social findings highlight the importance of social interaction difficulties; they require extracurricular involvement and need to be part of a social support group. From an educational perspective, a supportive teacher, the need for inclusion in the classroom, assisted class transitions, and inadequate parent-teacher communications were noted. The overall findings indicate that the learners need more psychosocial support at the school, and family support is essential. Also, there is a need for better communication channels between the school and families to build resilience in the learners. Based on the findings, several recommendations are made on improving psychosocial support for ASD learners. The findings in this study could have global value since there are ASD learners worldwide.