Knowledge and Attitudes of Early Childhood Preservice Teachers Regarding the Inclusion of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Feasibility of Training Early Childhood Educators in a Community Child Care Setting Using a Caregiver-mediated Intervention for Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Many early childhood education trainees only receive a single placement for each year of their educational program and because not all child care services are inclusive of children with disabilities, trainees may not have had any experience with children with disabilities in their classrooms by the time they begin work (Underwood & Killoran, 2009). Additionally, research has identified a lack of knowledge regarding children with disabilities, particularly those with ASD, amongst trainees in early childhood education programs (Barned et al, 2011;Underwood & Killoran, 2009). These gaps extend to a lack of training regarding the benefits of different intervention approaches for children with ASD.…”

“…These gaps extend to a lack of training regarding the benefits of different intervention approaches for children with ASD. In a survey of 15 ECE students, Barned et al (2011) found that 73.3% did not believe that behaviour therapy was effective for children with ASD, and just under half were unaware of the importance of early intervention more generally. Furthermore, despite believing that all children should be included in general education classrooms, about half the respondents thought that only special educators should teach children with ASD or, if included in general education classrooms, many expected an expert to be in the classrooms to work with the child (Barned et al, 2011).…”

“…In a survey of 15 ECE students, Barned et al (2011) found that 73.3% did not believe that behaviour therapy was effective for children with ASD, and just under half were unaware of the importance of early intervention more generally. Furthermore, despite believing that all children should be included in general education classrooms, about half the respondents thought that only special educators should teach children with ASD or, if included in general education classrooms, many expected an expert to be in the classrooms to work with the child (Barned et al, 2011). Although many early childhood education trainees were familiar with the core impairments of ASD (e.g., social-communication challenges, language and sensory difficulties), there was limited understanding of the more complex symptoms or associated features such as eating difficulties and nonfunctional play (Barned et al, 2011;Johnson et al, 2012).…”

“…Furthermore, despite believing that all children should be included in general education classrooms, about half the respondents thought that only special educators should teach children with ASD or, if included in general education classrooms, many expected an expert to be in the classrooms to work with the child (Barned et al, 2011). Although many early childhood education trainees were familiar with the core impairments of ASD (e.g., social-communication challenges, language and sensory difficulties), there was limited understanding of the more complex symptoms or associated features such as eating difficulties and nonfunctional play (Barned et al, 2011;Johnson et al, 2012). Importantly, many trainees reported feeling unprepared for special education in their classrooms and stated they wished to learn more about ASD as they felt that this knowledge was necessary for their future as an educator (Barned et al, 2011;Maich & Hall, 2014).…”

“…Although many early childhood education trainees were familiar with the core impairments of ASD (e.g., social-communication challenges, language and sensory difficulties), there was limited understanding of the more complex symptoms or associated features such as eating difficulties and nonfunctional play (Barned et al, 2011;Johnson et al, 2012). Importantly, many trainees reported feeling unprepared for special education in their classrooms and stated they wished to learn more about ASD as they felt that this knowledge was necessary for their future as an educator (Barned et al, 2011;Maich & Hall, 2014). Future ECEs also stated that their most common source of information regarding ASD was their educational curriculum, which points to the importance of including, and perhaps enhancing, training about interventions within the curriculum for early childhood education programs (Johnson et al, 2012).…”