Educational Practices to Increase Social Participation of Adolescents and Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Although social participation is one of the objectives of educational services provided during schooling, few researches have been conducted on this issue, especially for adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This literature review focuses on the social participation of these adolescents and young adults (aged 14 to 21) from a perspective of resilience. This research aims to identify risk factors that may hinder their social participation and the protective factors that may favor it. To conduct this study, 31 scientific articles and one book chapter were identified. Our results demonstrate that adolescence, as a developmental period, represents a window of opportunity for the development of social participation, as adolescents and young adults frequent their peers daily in the school environment. As a teenager, the youngster distances himself from the family unit to build his own identity by establishing links with his peers. From this perspective, social skills are closely linked to social participation. Our results confirm the importance of social participation for youth with ASD, as well as the need to support their social participation through the learning of social skills and the multiplication of opportunities to put them into practice at school and in the community. Intervention strategies are proposed to increase the social participation of these young people.