Dancing with the daffodils: using a Shared Reading approach to explore autistic identity

Editorial comment In this paper, the author questions the studies on autism which refer to deficits, with particular reference to an autistic individual’s impaired ability to understand figurative language. Together with her autistic co-researchers, she challenges this notion by using a Shared Reading approach. Two poems were shared online with two groups (six parents of autistic children and six autistic adults). These poems were read aloud and discussion of the images and meanings that arose were shared and discussed further. The study shows that autistic people are very capable of taking meaning from the lines and relating this to their own experiences. In addition to questioning the conclusions of previous published studies, sharing the poems served as a catalyst to talking about their lives and perspective. It also brings to mind a paper published in the GAP Journal in May 2021, written by an English teacher, Isabelle Finn-Kelcey, who felt her autistic students were down-graded because the examiners did not appreciate or understand autistic writing