Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatr. Sep 22, 2017; 7(3): 184-196
Published online Sep 22, 2017. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v7.i3.184
Transition to school for children with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review
Annabel Marsh, Vanessa Spagnol, Rachel Grove, Valsamma Eapen
Annabel Marsh, Vanessa Spagnol, Rachel Grove, Valsamma Eapen, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia
Annabel Marsh, Vanessa Spagnol, Rachel Grove, Valsamma Eapen, Academic Unit of Child Psychiatry, South West Sydney Local Health District, Liverpool Hospital, Liverpool NSW 2170, Australia
Rachel Grove, Valsamma Eapen, Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC), St Lucia QLD 4067, Australia
Author contributions: Marsh A, Grove R and Eapen V designed the research; Marsh A and Spagnol V performed the research and analyzed the included studies; Marsh A, Spagnol V and Grove R drafted the manuscript; Eapen V critically analyzed and revised the manuscript; all authors approved the final version of the manuscript for publication.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Valsamma Eapen, MBBS, PhD, FRCPsych, FRANZCP, Professor, Academic Unit of Child Psychiatry, South West Sydney Local Health District, and Ingham Institute Liverpool Hospital, Elizabeth Street, Liverpool NSW 2170, Australia. v.eapen@unsw.edu.au
Telephone: +61-2-96164364 Fax: +61-2-96012773
Received: January 17, 2017
Peer-review started: January 18, 2017
First decision: May 22, 2017
Revised: May 29, 2017
Accepted: June 30, 2017
Article in press: July 3, 2017
Published online: September 22, 2017
Processing time: 244 Days and 16.5 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: This systematic review examines current school transition research for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), focusing on school readiness, parents and teachers school transitions expectations and experiences, individual factors affecting school transition and school-based interventions. Research in this area is disparate and sparse, but suggests that children with ASD have more difficulty adjusting to school, particularly in relation to active engagement and social interactions with the teachers and peers. Teachers and parents agree comprehensive transition processes are needed throughout the first years. School-based intervention programs in the first years can improve cognitive, language and daily-living but more interventions are needed targeting social interaction.