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The majority of children who were not identified as being on the autism spectrum discussed the

concept of play and friendship throughout their narratives. Only one child raised a concern of a

serious nature with regard to relationships.

This photograph was taken by Laura in school D.

In a number of the narratives the playground was presented as a place to play and have fun. There

is nothing sensational or surprising about this emerging as a theme for this group. However, when

compared with the autism group in the study it does become very interesting as the concept of play

and fun was hardly mentioned. The photograph presented by Laura above illustrates the emergence

of this theme as she talks about play and fun. Similar opinions were expressed across schools. One

child took this further and identified it as a wider social space that allowed for the development of

social relationships beyond the classroom. She said 'it is a place where you get to play with friends

from other classes.'

A number of children discussed interacting with others by playing games or interacting with objects

in the playground together. A number of boys in school C spoke about enjoying playing football in

the playground with their friends. Zak's comments can be seen below. In school A some children

expressed that they enjoyed getting onto the field (a huge grass area in school A) to play games

when the weather was suitable.

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The children in school A had most to say about their playground and were enthusiastic about some

of the paintings and furniture that had been recently added. Two things in particular seemed to be

having a really positive effect and were stimulating social interaction. The first of these was the

stage (pictured below). This photograph was taken by Lisa and she said 'the reason that I like this is

because when me and my friends make up a dance and sometimes we get the teachers to watch it.....

and we perform it there and it is like we are on a real talent show and sometimes we play Britain'sGot Talent and X-Factor and all that, that's why I like it.' As can be seen, the stage had provided a

stimulus that allow for creativity and imagination to flourish among Lisa and her friends.

Similarly, the painted containers at the same school had also provided space for interaction. Robin

both typed text over her picture and spoke about it using the voice recording facility on Photo Story

3. She said repeated what she had written on the photograph. It is interesting that the painting of

this container, like the stage above had created space for enhanced play and was saw by Robin and

her friends as a space for play with one another using these paintings as a stimulus. Across sites

there were other similar examples of items that children used and identified as part of their play. It

is not my intention to branch off into Outdoor Learning despite it's emergence as part of outdoor

play here.

Throughout the narratives many children spoke about their friendships in a range of places. Some

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children mentioned that they liked to work with a partner or friend during ICT and viewed this

positively. Others saw the lunch hall as a place were they could sit and chat with friends and some

were pleased because they sat next to their friends in class or had a peg in the cloakroom next to

their best friend. One child in school C who took his photos in June prior to summer holidays and

made his recording in September following a long break wrote the following on top of his

photograph - 'This is my P3 classroom. I do writing, handwriting and numberwork. It was a good

classroom everybody helped each other.' This not only showed friendship but illustrated the co-operative nature that existed in some areas.

Not all the comments were positive. One girl in the study wrote that 'I don't like bullies in the

school because my friend left the school because of a bully.' This girl alluded to a number of other

negative things in her narrative and daily diary so I passed the information to the Head Teacher of

the school this was a huge ethical dilemma for me and this will be explored in greater detail in the

ethics section. Only one other girl made a negative comment about the playground. This was not at

the same school and it was simply tagged onto some positive comments about the playground. Her

concern was 'some people might get pushed over.' Unlike the first comment nothing had actually

happened it was just a concern.