Background and aimsA growing number of autistic children have access to inclusive education programs as early as kindergarten. However, little is known about how they actually participate in social interactions and develop their communicative skills according to the parameters of this environment. The aim of this article is to review observational studies on this topic and critically analyze their methodological choices by arguing on the aspects of communication skills noted in the observation grids. Disparities in the information collected depending on the method used have implications for understanding and supporting autistic children in an inclusive school environment.MethodsObservational studies on social interactions of autistic preschoolers within inclusive preschool settings were scoped. The studies were analyzed according to the following parameters: aims of observation, method used for coding, communication partners considered (adults and peers), type of children's social engagement (initiatives and responses), diversity of communicative forms and communication functions, distinction and comparison of interactional contexts related to the activities, and whether changes linked to developmental variables are studied on an interindividual or longitudinal basis.ResultsSeventeen studies using the observation method in inclusive preschool settings were identified. Recordingmethods are mostly based on video recording. The coding grids mainly focus on autistic children while partners’ behaviors (adults, peers) are often coded in less detail, thus providing littleinformation on their dynamic role in the interactions. Overall, autistic children were found to initiate interactions much less often than they respond to it. The data generally distinguish thecommunicative forms used by children and indicate a predominance of nonverbal means at preschool level. However, a few studies coded communicative functions, whether they areaddressed to children or produced by them. In addition, very few studies compare interactions across activity contexts. In addition, very few studies compare interactions across activity contexts.Results of some studies showed that children initiated interaction more frequently during free play than during work activity, but results are heterogeneous. Developmental trajectories in socialskills seem to be associated with the severity of autism and language skills, but longitudinal designs are still rare.Conclusions and implicationsDirect and fine-grained observation in the classroom is a key source of information about how communication takes place in preschool-inclusive settings. The data, despite some methodological challenges, offer opportunities for better adjustment based on professional objectives. Our review highlights the importance of offering occasions for initiatives to autistic children and training of neurotypical peers to better interact with autistic children and promote verbal communication. Further observational studies are needed to use more microanalytic measures of the functional quality of social interactions in autistic children, including joint comparisons between partners (adults vs. peers) and across contexts (e.g., play vs. structured development) so that appropriate strategies can be proposed in inclusive preschool settings.

中文翻译：

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在包容性教育环境中观察自闭症学龄前儿童社交互动的重要性和挑战：范围界定审查

背景和目标越来越多的自闭症儿童早在幼儿园就接受了包容性教育计划。然而，人们对他们如何根据这种环境参数实际参与社交互动并发展他们的沟通技能知之甚少。本文的目的是回顾关于该主题的观察性研究，并通过争论观察网格中指出的沟通技巧方面来批判性地分析他们的方法选择。根据所使用的方法收集的信息存在差异，这对于理解和支持包容性学校环境中的自闭症儿童具有影响。方法对包容性学前环境中自闭症学龄前儿童的社会互动进行了观察性研究。根据以下参数对研究进行分析：观察目的、编码方法、考虑的沟通伙伴（成人和同龄人）、儿童社会参与的类型（主动和反应）、沟通形式和沟通功能的多样性、区分和比较与活动相关的互动背景，以及是否在个体间或纵向基础上研究与发展变量相关的变化。结果确定了 17 项在包容性学前教育环境中使用观察方法的研究。记录方式多以视频记录为主。编码网格主要关注自闭症儿童，而伴侣的行为（成人、同龄人）通常编码得不太详细，因此提供的关于他们在互动中的动态角色的信息很少。总体而言，自闭症儿童发起互动的频率远低于回应互动的频率。这些数据总体上区分了儿童使用的交流形式，并表明非语言手段在学前阶段占主导地位。然而，一些研究对交际功能进行了编码，无论这些功能是针对儿童的还是由儿童产生的。此外，很少有研究比较不同活动背景下的相互作用。此外，很少有研究比较不同活动背景下的互动。一些研究的结果表明，儿童在自由玩耍时比在工作活动中更频繁地发起互动，但结果存在差异。社交技能的发展轨迹似乎与自闭症和语言技能的严重程度有关，但纵向设计仍然很少见。结论和影响课堂上的直接和细粒度观察是关于学前包容性沟通如何进行的关键信息来源设置。尽管存在一些方法上的挑战，但这些数据为根据专业目标进行更好的调整提供了机会。我们的评论强调了为自闭症儿童提供主动活动的机会以及培训神经正常同龄人以更好地与自闭症儿童互动并促进言语交流的重要性。