Developing the emotion regulation skills of autistic pupils in education settings: A case study of a residential special school in England

Emotion regulation skills enable individuals to manage how they express their emotions, but little is known about how to support the development of these skills within educational practice. Therefore, this nested case study explored how a residential special school supported autistic young people to develop emotion regulation skills. The school is graded ‘Outstanding’ by the inspection system in England and so this study was focused on exploring good practice. The study focused on four young people, and data was collected over eight months from staff who supported them. Staff members were involved through providing written reflections about facilitators and barriers to emotion regulation (n = 50), being observed in classrooms and homes (n = 8) and undertaking semi-structured interviews (n = 9). Transcripts of reflections, observations and interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Four main themes were generated to characterise the main principles and practices that underpinned good practice: (1) evolutionary ethos, (2) reciprocal relationships, (3) communication: attuning, asking, and adapting, and (4) everyone expresses emotions every day. Overall, interpersonal factors were considered by the school staff to be foundational for supporting the development of autistic young people’s emotion regulation skills. Recommendations for practice and future research are considered.