Creative arts-based educational practices with 11-19 year old autistic students: A convergent integrated mixed-method systematic review

Literature exploring how successfully creative arts-based educational practices (CAEPs) are used with 11-19 year old autistic students depicts a positive picture. However, findings are disjointed and appear to have been framed by a corrective, pathology-focussed ideology. This mixed-methods systematic review provides an objective synthesis of evidence on the nature of CAEPs, stakeholders’ perceptions of CAEPs, and CAEP outcomes, when CAEPs are used with 11-19 year old autistic students. Following this, the discussion contextualises the synthesis within a neurodiversity affirmative paradigm, which is a novel approach in this field of research. In total, 15 qualitative, 6 quantitative and 3 mixed methods reports were identified and included in the convergent integrated qualitative synthesis, resulting in four integrated findings: (1) perceptions of autism, (2) the nature of CAEPs, (3) CAEP outcomes, and (4) barriers and facilitators. These findings will be contextualised in a discussion about the conflicts that arose during the quality appraisal process, the potential biases and the paradigmatic framing of the included reports, and the numerous gaps in research that remain.