Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre
Research projects - Supporting Success in Education
Transition to school for children with disabilities: Parental views of the PrEPIC program
The purpose of the study is to explore the expectations, experiences, and outcomes of parents whose children who participated in pre-prep program aimed at supporting their transition to school. Despite widespread acknowledgement of the importance of supporting children with ASD during their transition to school, very few programs have been developed to address this issue and none have yet been evaluated. The program, called PrEPIC, is run under the auspices of EPIC (the Education Program for Infants and Children) and located in Morang South Primary School in Melbourne. It is a one year program designed to teach the necessary social, communication and adaptive skills to children with special needs to enable successful transition to primary school. Our aim is to examine (a) parents’ expectations as they begin PrEPIC; (b) the perceived outcomes and benefits of families having participated in PrEPIC; (c) parents’ hopes, worries, fears, concerns and satisfaction with PrEPIC in particular and transition to school more generally; and (d) parents’ perception and definition of a “successful” transition. The project is being conducted by Professor Elizabeth Starr (University of Windsor, Canada) and Dr David Trembath (OTARC) with the support of Nicole Maher (Acting CEO, EPIC). Data collection is currently underway, with analysis and reporting due to be completed in 2012.