Research

Six pictures of school-aged children in different situations.

AIM

PEICAS is an interdisciplinary and international research project. PEICAS aims at developing understanding and strategies to support the social participation of children with autism in peer interactions in inclusive classrooms. The project is coordinated by the University of Eastern Finland and funded by the Academy of Finland (2019-2023). PEICAS conducts participatory research methods and involves individuals with autism and parents of children with autism in designing and implementing the project.

BACKGROUND

Increasing number of children with autism attend inclusive education. Challenges in their social participation commonly occur. PEICAS investigates when and how peer interactions are successful in these natural environments. Rather than focusing on challenges, the project examines what children with autism and typically developing children can do in order to design positive support strategies.

GOALS

1) GAZE RESEARCH We conduct mobile eye tracking research to investigate how children with autism and typically developing children use their gaze in peer interactions.

2) UNDERSTANDING SUCCESS We apply multimodal interaction analysis to investigate how children with autism and typically developing children use multimodal interactional resources to successfully participate in peer interactions.

3) CHILDREN’S VIEWS We use video-stimulated account (VSA) to investigate how children with autism and typically developing children view their ‘interactional success’ and what kind of suggestions they give for enhancing peer interactions in inclusive classrooms.