ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Special Educational Needs
This article is part of the Research TopicEducation To Enhance The Inclusion Of All LearnersView all 19 articles
Bridging the First Step Special educators, routines, and predictable transitions to school for children with ASD in Norway
Provisionally accepted
Tonje Tøhaug1,2Kristine Tyldum Lefstad2,3
Alexander Gamst Page4Marianne Hatlem Storås5
Sobh Chahboun2*- 1Fon Kindergarten, Tønsberg, Norway
- 2Queen Maud University College, Trondheim, Norway
- 3Department of Health and education, Trøndelag Høyere Yrkesfagskole/THYF, Higher Vocational Education, Stjørdal, Norway
- 4Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Trondheim, Norway
- 5OsloMet - storbyuniversitetet, Oslo, Norway
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The transition from kindergarten to school represents a major developmental milestone for all children, but for those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), this shift can be particularly demanding due to their heightened need for structure, predictability, and emotional security. This qualitative study explores how special educators in one municipality in Norway facilitate this transition, focusing on continuity in routines, collaboration, and pedagogical strategies that support children with ASD. Eight in-depth interviews were conducted with special education teachers from four institutions, providing diverse professional perspectives. The findings highlight early planning, systematic familiarization through visit days, and continuity in routines as essential to fostering predictability and security. Interdisciplinary and inter-agency collaboration—including kindergartens, schools, Educational-Psychological Services (PPT), and parents—emerges as a critical factor in ensuring tailored support and coherent transition processes. Key challenges identified include limited time, lack of formalized routines, and resource constraints, which can hinder the implementation of individualized measures. Nonetheless, flexible adaptation, early initiation of routines, and close parental involvement significantly enhance the transition experience. The study contributes to the field of special education by identifying effective practices that promote inclusive, predictable, and emotionally secure transitions for children with ASD, offering implications for policy, practice, and future research.
Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Routines and Predictability, Special Education, Transition to school
Received: 14 Oct 2025; Accepted: 20 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tøhaug, Lefstad, Page, Storås and Chahboun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sobh Chahboun, sch@dmmh.no
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