Participation Tempo in Care-Leaving Transitions to Supported Living among Young People with Autism and Intellectual Disabilities

The Danish context

In Denmark, residential childcare is organised within the child welfare system under the Danish Child Act (Barnets lov) (2024), where municipalities are responsible for assessment, placement and service provision. While parents typically retain legal custody, municipalities assume decision-making authority regarding care when a child is placed outside the home.

Services for children and adults with disabilities are also organised at the municipal level but governed by separate legal and administrative frameworks. This division creates discontinuities in responsibility and coordination, particularly for young people navigating both child welfare and disability services.

Transition planning for young people with significant disabilities is required to begin at age 16 and should be conducted in a coordinated and participatory manner (Barnets lov §§122–123; Socialstyrelsen 2021). However, at age 18, responsibility formally shifts to adult services, typically involving new assessments, caseworkers and support arrangements. Research indicates that such transitions are often characterised by fragmentation and limited coordination across service domains (Ankestyrelsen 2022; Bennwik et al. 2023; Høstrup, Høgh and Stamhus 2019).

For some young people, continued support may be provided through aftercare (ungestøtte) extending into early adulthood. However, access to such support is not automatic and varies across municipalities in terms of eligibility, timing and coordination.

These institutional arrangements shape the temporal organisation of transition processes, influencing how and when participants are able to participate in decisions and everyday practices throughout the transition.

Theoretical framework

This article develops an analytical framework that brings together perspectives on participation and time to examine how transition is experienced by young people with ASD and/or ID. Rather than approaching transition as a linear progression towards adulthood, the framework conceptualises participation as a temporal and relational practice shaped by the organisation of welfare services and by young people’s everyday rhythms.

The framework draws on Lundy’s (2007) model of participation to examine how opportunities for participation are structured in practice while critically extending this model through the temporal perspectives of disability studies, particularly crip time (Kafer 2013; Samuels 2017). Lundy’s model provides a vocabulary for analysing participation beyond formal consultation by specifying the conditions under which participation becomes possible in everyday life. In this study, participation is therefore not treated as a singular event or decision-making moment but as an ongoing practice embedded in relations, routines and institutional arrangements. Building on this, Lundy’s dimensions of space, voice, audience and influence are used analytically to examine how participation becomes possible in practice, and how these conditions are shaped by temporal alignment and misalignment.

Crip time offers a complementary perspective by foregrounding how institutional timeframes shape whose participation becomes possible, when, and on what terms and at what tempo. While presented here as a complementary perspective, crip time also carries a critical potential by challenging normative assumptions about linearity, efficiency and independence in institutional time structures (Kafer 2013). Temporal belonging has been explored as a condition of being in sync with social time (Glavind 2023), whereas participation tempo shifts the analytical focus towards how temporal alignment shapes the conditions under which participation becomes possible in practice. Rather than assuming shared temporal norms, crip time draws attention to how different rhythms of understanding, readiness and engagement are accommodated or constrained within welfare practices. From this perspective, mismatches between institutional tempo and young people’s lived temporalities are not interpreted as individual shortcomings but as effects of how services are organised and timed.

Building on this intersection, the article introduces the concept of participation tempo to capture how participation depends on the alignment between institutional time structures and the rhythms through which participants are able to orient themselves, build trust, express preferences and engage in decision-making processes.

Participation tempo refers to the temporal and relational conditions that enable participation in practice. In this article, participation tempo is used as an analytical concept to examine how participation is conditioned by temporal alignment, rather than as a normative model prescribing optimal forms of participation. It foregrounds time not as a neutral or administrative background condition but as an active dimension shaping whether participants are able to understand, prepare, respond and participate in ways that are meaningful to them.

By linking participation to temporal organisation through the concept of participation tempo, the framework shifts analytical attention from individual capacities to the relational and institutional conditions shaping transition. This allows the analysis to examine how participation is enacted as part of the transition process, including through non-verbal and embodied forms of engagement, and how such processes are shaped by the timing, tempo and coordination of support, and by the degree to which institutional tempo is aligned with participants’ participation tempo.

Study design and approach

This article draws on data from a 3-year qualitative research project exploring how participants with ASD and/or ID experience the transition from residential childcare to adult-supported living services. While the broader project also includes parents and professionals, the present analysis focuses the perspectives of participants with ASD and/or ID.

The study was informed by a rights-oriented and participatory research approach. The research design enabled examination of how participation was enabled through relational and temporal conditions, including tempo, predictability and responsiveness to different modes of communication.

Analytically, the study followed an abductive approach inspired by reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke 2006; Braun and Clarke 2021), in which patterns were identified through iterative engagement with the material and developed in dialogue with theoretical perspectives on participation, time and participation tempo. The analytical focus evolved through iterative reading and coding of interview transcripts, photo-supported dialogue and observational fieldnotes.

Participants and data generation

The study included 17 participants between the ages of 17 and 45 with experiences of moving from residential childcare or other out-of-home placements into adult-supported living arrangements. At the time of data generation, all participants were living in adult-supported living arrangements, although some had moved recently, while others reflected on transitions that had taken place several years earlier. Participants were recruited through four adult-supported living facilities, with staff distributing accessible invitations, including easy-to-read materials and video invitations.

Although participants ranged in age from 17 to 45, youth is used analytically rather than chronologically, reflecting how transitions between child- and adult-oriented services are shaped by institutional arrangements rather than age alone. Participants varied in gender, living arrangements and care trajectories. Including participants at different temporal distances from transition allowed the study to capture how participation tempo unfolds not only at the point of relocation but also as part of longer-term everyday practices.

Table 1 provides an overview of participant characteristics, including time since transition, which captures variation in participants’ temporal positioning in relation to the transition process.

Fourteen participants took part in one or two semi-structured interviews incorporating photo-supported dialogue, lasting between 45 and 90 min. Three participants who primarily communicated non-verbally contributed through participant observation, comprising approximately 20 h of fieldwork conducted in one institution. Observations were conducted over five consecutive days, allowing for sustained engagement with everyday routines and interactions.

Participants differed in their preferred modes of communication. While several communicated verbally, others relied primarily on non-verbal or supported forms of communication, including gestures, facial expressions and assisted interpretation by familiar staff.

Observations focussed on everyday interactions as part of the transition process, enabling analysis of participation as enacted in practice rather than solely reported retrospectively.

Interview data captured participants’ retrospective reflections on transition, while photo-based activities supported situated expressions of meaning. These materials were analysed as an integrated dataset to examine how participation was shaped across different moments and settings within the transition process.

Data collection

The interviews were guided by an open-ended interview framework designed to explore experiences of transition, everyday participation and relationships with professionals. Interviews were conducted face-to-face in familiar settings, including supported living facilities and, in some cases, participants’ homes. The semi-structured interview guide followed qualitative interviewing principles (Kvale and Brinkmann 2015) and included six open-ended questions focussing on experiences of transition, participation in everyday life and relationships with professionals. Interview sessions were adapted to participants’ individual rhythms, allowing for pauses, repetition, or silence where needed. Efforts were made to establish familiarity and trust through flexible pacing and the use of communicative supports. Photo-based activities were used as communicative supports, drawing on elements of photo-elicitation (Harper 2002) and photovoice-inspired principles (Wang and Burris 1997). Photographs were taken by participants and used as prompts for dialogue, supporting self-representation and allowing participants to influence the focus and pace of the interviews.

Participant observations were conducted in the adult-supported living settings to which participants had moved following their transition from residential childcare. These observations examined the participants’ participation in everyday interactions with staff and peers, including tempo and relational practices, providing insight into how participation and belonging were negotiated through embodied and non-verbal forms of engagement.

Data analysis

All interview transcripts and observational fieldnotes were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis as outlined by Braun and Clarke (2006, 2021). The analysis was iterative and theoretically informed, moving between empirical material and the analytical framework developed in this article, with particular attention to concepts of participation, time, tempo and participation tempo. Data from interviews and participant observations were analysed iteratively to identify patterns across communicative forms and temporal contexts. This enabled the analysis to examine how participation was expressed through both verbal accounts and embodied practices, and how these forms aligned or diverged in participants’ experiences of transition.

In an initial phase, the material was coded inductively to capture recurring patterns related to transition experiences, participation, time and relationships. In a second phase, codes were refined into broader themes capturing how institutional timing, everyday rhythms and relational practices shaped participation tempo during transition. Photographs were analysed through participants’ narratives and interactions rather than standalone visual artefacts.

For participants who communicated primarily non-verbally, meaning was interpreted through observed gestures, expressions and situational context, drawing on staff members’ contextual knowledge where relevant. These forms of expression were treated as analytically equivalent to verbal accounts.

Throughout the analysis, themes were continuously reviewed and refined to ensure coherence and analytical clarity, with sustained attention to how participation and temporal organisation intersected across different empirical contexts.

The concept of participation tempo was developed abductively through iterative movement between empirical material and theoretical perspectives, allowing patterns related to timing, coordination and relational continuity to emerge from the data.

Ethical considerations

Ethics was embedded throughout the research process as an ongoing, relational practice rather than being treated as a procedural step. The research design recognised that young people with ASD and/or ID engage, communicate and express consent in diverse ways, requiring ethical attentiveness to flexibility, tempo and relational safety across all stages of the study (Bjorbækmo et al. 2022; Chalachanová et al. 2020).

Prior to data generation, pedagogical staff from residential childcare homes and adult-supported living facilities were involved in refining interview guides, timelines and visual materials. Their involvement supported the development of accessible and emotionally safe research practices attuned to participants’ everyday rhythms and communication preferences. To accommodate different forms of engagement, participants received information through easy-to-read written materials and short video invitations, and photo-based activities were used as communicative supports. Consent regarding participation and the potential use of photographs in academic outputs was discussed and revisited throughout the research process.

For participants who communicated primarily non-verbally, formal consent was provided by parents or legal guardians and complemented by an ongoing, situated assessment of assent and dissent. The researcher continuously attended to participants’ verbal and non-verbal cues, pausing or discontinuing interactions if signs of discomfort or withdrawal were observed. Familiar staff supported communication where relevant, contributing to participants’ sense of safety, understanding and voluntary participation. Participants were informed of their right to withdraw at any time without consequences. No participants withdrew from the study.

Confidentiality and data protection were ensured through anonymisation and secure data storage in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. Ethical approval was granted by the institutional research ethics committee at University College Absalon, Denmark. Consistent with inclusive disability research, the study approached ethics as a shared and ongoing process grounded in respect, co-construction and recognition of participants’ agency in everyday relations (Bjorbækmo et al. 2022).

Methodological reflections and limitations

This study was based on a contextually bounded qualitative sample of 17 participants recruited from Danish residential childcare and supported living settings. Access to participants was mediated by institutional gatekeepers. This may have shaped which participants were invited and thus which perspectives were included in the study.

The presence of staff during some interviews and the translation of transcripts and fieldnotes from Danish to English shaped the conditions of knowledge production. These features reflect the relational and mediated character of participatory research with young people with ASD and/or ID, where communication and meaning-making are co-constructed rather than fully controlled by the researcher.

The use of photo-supported dialogue and participant observation enabled participants to influence the focus, tempo and representation of their experiences, thereby redistributing interpretive agency within the research process.

The observational data were limited to one institutional setting and a relatively short period of fieldwork, and should therefore be understood as providing illustrative rather than exhaustive insight.

Safety through relationships and familiar surroundings

Across interviews and observations, relationships were consistently described as the foundation for feeling safe and supported during transition. Almost all the participants emphasised the importance of familiarity, knowing someone in advance or having trusted adults involved, when moving to a new home. Milo, who had lived in supported housing for more than 15 years, recalled, ‘I closed myself off a lot in the beginning. It helped that I knew two boys, and that we shared interests like football and PlayStation’. Adam noted that safety also involves having one’s boundaries respected: ‘It’s uncomfortable when you want to be alone, and someone staff comes with bad remarks… You have to accept it if a young person says no, no matter if you’re newly trained or not’. Thomas summarised the importance of relations clearly: ‘The most important thing was to get good relations with the people I live with’.

During a photo-supported interview, one young person photographed a wooden shelter he had built together with staff and peers. This image reflected his sense of belonging and illustrated how shared activities and relationships contributed to feelings of emotional safety and inclusion.

Field observations supported these patterns. Staff were often observed communicating through presence, proximity and humour, bending down to meet a young person’s gaze, adjusting a footrest, or using a light touch on the shoulder. Across shared spaces, small gestures and familiar routines created a sense of calm and belonging. Anna’s experiences further illustrate how relational continuity shaped feelings of safety during transition. Having moved several times before arriving at her current adult-supported living home, she described how repeated relocations made it difficult to feel settled: ‘I just didn’t want to move, because I felt I’d moved enough already. I was finally starting to feel safe’. The loss of established relationships was particularly significant: ‘Losing the relationships you had, that’s difficult’.

Being heard and everyday self-determination

Being heard emerged as a central condition for participation in everyday life, shaping how participants experienced influence, recognition and self-determination during transition. Around half of the participants described having little influence over important decisions, including when and where they moved. Nora captured this experience succinctly: ‘I was just like a little parcel moved from A to B’. Emma recalled a similar situation: ‘I really tried to say no. I cried and was so angry, but she her caseworker completely ignored how I felt’. In contrast, a smaller group described experiences of being listened to and taken seriously. As John noted, ‘Your voice and words actually mean something’. These experiences can be understood through Lundy’s (2007) framework: while some participants were given space and voice, participation depended on whether their expressions were recognised by an audience and translated into influence.

Several participants emphasised that continuity in professional relationships supported communication and trust. Having the same caseworker over time made it easier to express preferences and concerns, particularly when decisions required explanation or negotiation. Being heard, however, depended not only on professionals listening but also on whether what was expressed was followed up and acted upon.

Observation data highlighted that participation was often enacted through embodied and non-verbal communication. In one observed interaction, a staff member explained how a young man’s responses were typically interpreted through his gaze and facial expressions, noting, ‘When he holds his gaze a little longer, that usually means yes’. Smiling frequently occurred during these moments and was treated as an additional sign of comfort and engagement. For participants who communicated non-verbally, participation relied on the extent to which others recognised and responded to these expressions, highlighting how voice and audience are enacted relationally rather than linguistically.

Across interviews and observations, participants expressed how calm settings, time and consistent attention supported their sense of being recognised and valued. Conversely, when interactions were rushed or inconsistent, they experienced frustration, uncertainty or powerlessness in everyday situations.

Time, tempo and patience

Time and tempo emerged as central dimensions shaping participants’ transition experiences. Several participants described transitions that felt rushed, leaving little room to prepare emotionally or relationally.

Adam explained, ‘It was just like, boom, I was moved. I wish there had been more focus on how I felt and that I could move in slowly’. Thomas experienced a similar sense of acceleration: ‘I didn’t really get to think about it, because it happened so fast … I only saw the place once, and then I already had to move in’. For others, professionals actively tried to slow things down. Milo stated, ‘I had one week to move … but that wasn’t going to happen. Sunhouse [pseudonym for supported living facility] said no, they said more time was needed’.

The field observations illustrated how participation was negotiated through attention to time, tempo and non-verbal communication in everyday practices. Across multiple situations, staff were observed working deliberately to attune themselves to participants’ bodily and facial cues, slowing down interactions and waiting for responses expressed through gaze, subtle movements or smiling. For example, staff explained how holding a young person’s gaze slightly longer was often interpreted as consent and how responding to such cues required patience and familiarity rather than immediate action. Rather than interpreting withdrawal or hesitation as resistance, staff described how such moments often reflected a need for time, overview or reassurance. In these interactions, participation emerged through shared rhythms of waiting and responding, demonstrating how temporal attunement supported involvement more effectively than speed or efficiency.

Several participants highlighted the importance of being allowed to move and settle at their own tempo. Anna described it simply: ‘You have to be patient … not just move a person in the quickest and easiest way’. Sara explained how gradual adaptation was supported relationally: ‘My mum slept there the first night, and then I could feel that now I’d gotten used to sleeping there’. John summarised a common perspective: ‘It doesn’t have to be rushed. I think that’s crucial for feeling safe where you’re going to live’.

Participants often linked patience to care and trust. They valued professionals who stayed in contact with them, provided information gradually, and avoided last-minute deadlines. When time was adapted to their needs, the transition felt calmer and more predictable; when it was rushed or poorly coordinated, participants felt overwhelmed or excluded.

Participants’ accounts also pointed to broader structural conditions shaping transition processes. Several described limited coordination and rapid decision-making, where moves were experienced as occurring ‘from one day to the next’ or with very short notice, leaving little time for preparation. Others highlighted frequent changes in professionals, including caseworkers and staff, which disrupted continuity and required repeated processes of adjustment. Together, these experiences illustrate how bureaucratic time pressures and organisational conditions shape the temporal conditions under which participation becomes possible.

Time, tempo and participation tempo

Across the findings, time emerged not as a neutral background but as a moral, emotional and relational dimension shaping participants’ opportunities for participation during transition. When institutional routines imposed fixed schedules, such as sudden moves or short preparation periods, participants experienced acceleration as a loss of control, predictability and safety. In contrast, when timing and tempo were adjusted to their needs, transitions felt calmer and more supportive of their agency and belonging.

These experiences resonate with disability studies perspectives on crip time (Kafer 2013; Samuels 2017), which challenge normative temporal expectations associated with adulthood, efficiency and linear progress. From this perspective, institutional acceleration can function as a form of exclusion by privileging certain rhythms of readiness and competence while marginalising others. The participants’ repeated emphasis on patience and preparation reflects an implicit demand for temporal justice: the right to move, decide and participate in one’s own time.

Similar dynamics have been documented in Nordic disability and care-leaving research. Care-leaving studies have long shown that transitions to adulthood are often accelerated and compressed, requiring young people to navigate multiple and simultaneous developmental and practical demands within limited timeframes (Stein 2006). Bennwik, Oterholm and Kelly (2023) describe how administratively timed transitions transfer responsibility to young people while leaving little space for emotional and relational continuity. A recent scoping review (Bennwik and Kelly 2025) further demonstrates that such accelerated transitions are a recurring structural pattern across international contexts. Together, this research highlights how temporal compression operates as a mechanism of exclusion within welfare systems. Recent research further shows that these dynamics are not limited to institutional structures but are also reflected in caregivers’ experiences of poorly coordinated and emotionally demanding transitions, where responsibility is shifted without sufficient support (Mupaku, Kelly and van Breda 2026).

Building on these insights, this study contributes the concept of participation tempo to capture how participation depends on the alignment between institutional rhythms and participants’ lived temporalities. Participation tempo foregrounds how participation and agency are shaped not only by formal opportunities for participation but also by whether institutional time allows for continuity, preparation and relational attunement. In this sense, participation cannot be understood independently of tempo: being heard and involved requires time to build trust, establish familiarity and engage at a tempo that feels meaningful.

Participation tempo thus shapes not only whether these dimensions (space, voice, audience and influence) are formally present, but whether they can be realised in practice, as insufficient time or rapid decision-making may limit opportunities for expression, recognition and influence.

By conceptualising participation as a temporally organised practice, the analysis shifts attention from individual readiness to institutional conditions of inclusion. Time is thus reframed not as an administrative constraint but as an ethical and relational dimension of welfare practice, central to how transitions are experienced and negotiated in everyday life.

Participation and agency in everyday life

As part of the transition process, participation in everyday life emerges as a relational and situated practice rather than as a procedural requirement. The findings underscore that meaningful transitions depend on such forms of participation. Drawing on Lundy’s (2007) model, participation involves not only having space and voice but also having an audience that listens and responds, thereby enabling expressions of views to be translated into action. This highlights how participation depends on the interplay between space, voice, audience and influence in temporally organised practices. Importantly, these dimensions are not only relational but also temporally structured, as the possibility of being heard and influencing decisions depends on whether sufficient time is available for expression, response and recognition. In this study, participants’ sense of agency was shaped by whether these conditions were present across everyday interactions, not solely within formal meetings or written plans. From this perspective, participation depended on whether participants were provided with space to express themselves, recognised by an audience and able to see their views translated into influence in everyday situations.

Consistent with Bennwik et al. (2023), the analysis shows that emotional safety and relational continuity were prerequisites for participation. When participants interacted with familiar professionals who followed up on what had been expressed, participation was experienced as recognition and involvement. Conversely, experiences of changing staff, bureaucratic time pressures and limited coordination constrained participation by limiting continuity and weakening trust.

Importantly, participation was enacted through multiple communicative forms. Agency emerged not only through spoken words but also through gestures, facial expressions, photographs and embodied rhythms. Recognising these expressions as legitimate participation challenges linguistically narrow accounts of voice and aligns with recent disability studies that foreground embodied and sensory modes of communication (Chinn and Balota 2023). Participation, in this sense, was relational and intersubjective, unfolding through attunement to how participants communicated and at what tempo.

The findings further indicate that everyday decisions, such as when to engage with others, how to spend time or whether to withdraw, were central sites of agency. These moments mattered because they were embedded in daily routines through which participants could experience influence immediately. When such everyday choices were respected, participation felt tangible; when they were overridden by organisational demands, participants experienced frustration and marginalisation.

Overall, the analysis demonstrates that participation cannot be reduced to individual motivation or communicative capacity. Instead, it depends on institutional conditions that enable listening, continuity and care. Participation thus emerges as a relational accomplishment shaped by temporal and organisational conditions that enable participants to be heard, recognised and involved in ways that matter in their everyday lives.

Safety, relationships and emotional work

The analysis underscores that participation during transition was inseparable from emotional safety and relational continuity. For the participants in this study, feeling able to engage, express preferences or withdraw depended on whether relationships with staff and peers felt predictable, respectful and caring. Transitions were therefore experienced not only as organisational shifts but also as emotionally charged processes involving loss, uncertainty and the gradual rebuilding of trust.

The prominence of safety and relational continuity in the findings highlights the importance of examining the temporal conditions under which participation becomes possible. Rather than assuming belonging as a starting point, the concept of participation tempo allows for an analysis of how such experiences emerge when institutional rhythms are aligned with participants’ lived temporalities.

This relational dimension aligns with disability studies perspectives that conceptualise care as an ethical and social practice rather than a technical task. Building on Kittay’s (2002) emphasis on dependency and interdependence as fundamental human conditions, the findings illustrate how everyday care involved continuous affective labour. Staff members’ attentiveness, expressed through calm presence, humour, touch and shared routines, functioned as micro-acts of recognition that supported participants’ sense of safety and belonging.

The experiences of Milo and Anna illustrate how emotional work (Hochschild 1983) unfolded over time. Milo’s early withdrawal following his move and his gradual reconnection through shared activities highlight how trust developed relationally rather than procedurally. Similarly, Anna’s repeated moves and the loss of established relationships demonstrate how disrupted continuity intensified emotional vulnerability, making it difficult for her to feel settled or safe. These experiences show that emotional work is required not only of professionals but also of participants themselves, who must repeatedly adapt to new environments, expectations and relationships.

Such emotional dimensions of transition are rarely acknowledged in policy frameworks that frame adulthood as independence and progression. As Bennwik et al. (2023) note, welfare institutions often privilege autonomy and efficiency, thereby overlooking the interdependence and emotional continuity upon which participants rely. Recognising emotional work as integral to participation reframes transition as an ethical relation grounded in care, trust and mutual recognition, rather than as an administrative process.

Taken together, the findings suggest that relational safety is a precondition for participation and for the alignment of participation tempo. Emotional work, enacted through sustained relationships and attuned everyday practices, creates the conditions under which participants can engage, be heard, and develop a sense of belonging during transition. Care, in this sense, is not peripheral to participation but central to how inclusion is realised over time.

Overall, the findings show that transitions from residential childcare to adult-supported living cannot be adequately understood through procedural, developmental, or rights-based frameworks alone. Participation emerges as a temporally and relationally organised practice, shaped by how institutional rhythms align with participants’ lived temporalities and relational needs. When transitions are paced in ways that allow for preparation, continuity and emotional safety, participation becomes meaningful and inclusive; when they are accelerated or poorly coordinated, participation is constrained despite formal rights to involvement.

By introducing the concept of participation tempo, this study advances disability research on participation by foregrounding time as an ethical and relational dimension of welfare practice. Participation tempo captures how recognition, agency and attachment are produced through temporal alignment and attunement rather than through efficiency or speed. This conceptualisation shifts analytical attention from individual readiness to institutional conditions of inclusion, highlighting the moral significance of tempo, patience and relational continuity in transition processes.

At a broader level, the findings suggest that inclusive transitions require welfare systems capable of accommodating multiple temporal rhythms and recognising temporal flexibility as a core professional competence rather than as a deviation from standard practice. This resonates with the realist review by Zidan et al. (2025), which demonstrates that individualised, context-sensitive and relationally grounded approaches are key mechanisms for effective transition support for young people with disabilities.