PLASN-R team:

Lucia Santi

Co-chair
Headteacher at
The Grove School

Spencer Hayes

Co-chair
Associate Professor at IOE

Brian Irvine

Comms and Engagement Officer and Research Fellow CRAE

Podcasts!

We’ve just started putting together a PLASN-R podcast . If you wish to subscribe to this, please follow the link below:

CRAE research summaries

CRAE strives to make its research accessible, so they craft short summaries to share their academic work.

Find out more

Archive

June 2025: Transitions & Language

• Mel Romualdez on transitions to employment (more here)
• Jo Saul with initial findings from Project ISLaND, an observational study of minimally verbal school-age children.
• Cat Lawton on the accuracy of anxiety measures for our pupils
• Oli Hobin on interdisciplinary working (podcast extra)

March 2025: Teacher-researchers

November 2024: Embodiment and motor needs

• Ruby Wheater: Children’s Perceived Motor Competency: Reflections on partnering with PLASN-R​ (ppt)

May 2024: Support implications

• Sarah Donlad: Autistic children who have complex support needs and implications for families and teachers.
• Jenny Yang: Motor skills and literacy skills in autistic children

Key publications from CRAE:

• Brede, J., Remington, A., Kenny, L., Warren, K., & Pellicano, E. (2017). Excluded from school: Autistic students’ experiences of school exclusion and subsequent re-integration into school. Autism & Developmental Language Impairments, 2, 2396941517737511. https://doi.org/10.1177/2396941517737511
• Charman, T., Pellicano, L., Peacey, L. V., Peacey, N., Forward, K., & Dockrell, J. (2011). What is good practice in autism education?https://researchers.mq.edu.au/files/83300571/82950951.pdf
• Croydon, A., Kenny, L., Remington, A., & Pellicano, L. (2016). Satellite classes: A promising model for educating children and young people on the autism spectrum. https://researchers.mq.edu.au/files/83302841/82950687.pdf
• Croydon, A., Remington, A., Kenny, L., & Pellicano, E. (2019). ‘This is what we’ve always wanted’: Perspectives on young autistic people’s transition from special school to mainstream satellite classes. Autism & Developmental Language Impairments, 4, 2396941519886475. https://doi.org/10.1177/2396941519886475
• Price, J., & Romualdez, A. M. (2025). ‘It just feels unnatural being here’: Autistic secondary school students’ experiences of sensory sensitivities in the school environment. Autism. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13623613251333860
• Parsons, S., Charman, T., Faulkner, R., Ragan, J., Wallace, S., Wittemeyer, K. (2013) Commentary – Bridging the research and practice gap in autism: The importance of creating research partnerships with schools. Autism.
• Sproston, K., Sedgewick, F., & Crane, L. (2017). Autistic girls and school exclusion: Perspectives of students and their parents. Autism & Developmental Language Impairments, 2, 2396941517706172. https://doi.org/10.1177/2396941517706172
• Wood, R., Crane, L., Happé, F., & Moyse, R. (2022). Learning from autistic teachers: Lessons about change in an era of COVID-19. Educational Review, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2022.2103521

(beyond CRAE):

• Billington, J., Loucas, T., & Knott, F. (2024). “I liked school, but school didn’t like me”: Autistic young adults’ reflections on their mainstream primary school experiences. Neurodiversity, 2, 27546330241310176. https://doi.org/10.1177/27546330241310174
• Bottema-Beutel, K., Sasson, N., McKinnon, R., Guo, R., Braun, C., Hand, B., Kapp, S., Espinas, D. R., Bailin, A., Lester, J. N., & Yu, B. (2024). Ableist Language in Schools Guide for Practitioners. https://osf.io/73ykq
• Martin, N., & Milton, D. (2017). Supporting the inclusion of autistic children. In Supporting Inclusive Practice and Ensuring Opportunity is Equal for All (3rd ed.). Routledge.
• Sandland, B. (2023). Learning from autistic teachers: How to be a neurodiversity-inclusive school. Educational Review, 0(0), 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2023.2189846