Preschool children’s ideas about peer-mediated intervention for autistic children who use minimal speech: a qualitative study protocol

Background Without intervention and support, autistic children may have limited interactions with their peers in inclusive preschool settings, thus restricting the potential of this environment to support children’s learning and social development. Peer-mediated interventions (PMIs) include a variety of approaches which aim to support non-autistic and autistic children to interact with each other. Children have contributed little to the design and development of PMIs. This study aims to provide a qualitative, child-centred, description of the implementation of PMI, according to non-autistic preschool children. Methods Focus groups will be conducted with a convenient sample of preschool children recruited from a local preschool. Talk- and art-based activities will be used to generate discussion around a series of vignettes. Focus groups will be video, and audio recorded and transcribed and analysed using a reflexive approach to thematic analysis. Ethics and Dissemination Ethical approval has been granted by the Faculty of Education and Health Sciences University of Limerick, Research Ethics Committee (2024_04_05_EHS). Findings will be disseminated through journal publication and through distribution of lay summaries and an infographic.