Arias Varela, LaraÁlvarez López, LauraCarballo Fazanes, AidaFernández de la Iglesia, Josefa del CarmenMartínez Isasi, SantiagoRodríguez Núñez, AntonioMartínez Santos, Alba Elena2026-05-262026-05-262026-04-02Arias-Varela, L., Álvarez-López, L., Carballo-Fazanes, A., Fernández-de-la-Iglesia, J.-d.-C., Martínez-Isasi, S., Rodríguez-Núñez, A., & Martínez-Santos, A.-E. (2026). Teaching basic life support to children with autism spectrum disorder: A novel pictogram-based approach. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 114. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ECNS.2026.1019451876-1399https://hdl.handle.net/10347/47397Background Survival after cardiac arrest depends on timely bystander basic life support (BLS), yet children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often excluded from BLS training strategies. This study assessed a pictogram-based, narrative approach using simulation to teach BLS to children with ASD. Method A quasiexperimental pretest/post-test design was conducted with a sample of eight children aged 8-12 years recruited from the Galician Autism Federation - ASPERGA Association. The intervention consisted of a 50-minute pictogram-based BLS simulation training, with participants assessed on their ability to perform the BLS sequence and cardiopulmonary resuscitation in a scenario-based cardiac arrest. Results Baseline assessments revealed inadequate proficiency in performing fundamental steps of the BLS sequence. Following targeted training, substantial improvements were noticeable, particularly in victim response (p = .010), airway opening (p = .015), and the look-listen-feel manoeuvre (p = .014). Nevertheless, challenges persisted in ventilation performance and overall cardiopulmonary resuscitation quality. Conclusion A pictogram-based simulation approach is a feasible strategy for teaching BLS to children with ASD. These children demonstrate the ability to learn and perform BLS with comparable proficiency to their peers without functional diversity.eng© 2026 International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )Attribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Autism spectrum disorderCardiopulmonary resuscitationDiversityEquityHealth educationSimulation3212 Salud públicajournal article10.1016/J.ECNS.2026.101945open access