Ahlers Kaitlyn, Hugh Maria L, Tagavi Daina, Eayrs Curtis, Hernandez Alyssa M, Ho Theodore, Locke Jill
Department of Psychiatry, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, Lebanon, NH, United States.
Department of Psychiatry, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH, United States.
Front Psychiatry. 2023 Sep 26;14:1241892. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1241892. eCollection 2023.
Autistic students have limited access to inclusive classes and activities in their schools. Principals and special education teachers who directly teach and administer programs for autistic elementary students can offer critical insight into factors, such as educators' attitudes, that may impact inclusive opportunities in schools. These attitudes may serve as barriers to or facilitators of promoting an inclusive school setting.
Semi-structured interviews with 26 elementary school principals and 26 special education teachers explored their experiences implementing evidence-based practices for autistic students (pivotal response training, discrete trial training, and visual schedules) in 26 self-contained classrooms in the United States. Autism-specific culture and inclusion emerged as a theme, which was analyzed for this paper.
An inductive approach to thematic analysis revealed principals' and special education teachers' perspectives regarding the "autism-specific culture" in the school, including attitudes towards and inclusion of autistic students in self-contained classrooms in the broader school environment. Analysis of text related to "autism-specific culture" detailed aspects of inclusion, factors (i.e., barriers and facilitators) affecting inclusion, principals' and special education teachers' attitudes towards autistic students placed in self-contained classrooms, attitudes of other school staff towards teachers in self-contained classrooms, and recommendations to support an inclusive school environment for autistic students.
Results suggest that valuing "equal" access to classes and activities for autistic students in self-contained classrooms may not be sufficient for promoting an inclusive school environment, Educators may benefit from targeted strategies to facilitate inclusion. Strategies range from supporting educators' attitudes and knowledge of autism to shifting physical aspects of the school environment (e.g., location of classrooms). Additional implications for supporting the true inclusion (i.e., inclusion that goes beyond physical inclusion) involves of autistic students in self-contained classrooms schools are discussed.
自闭症学生在学校中参与全纳课程和活动的机会有限。直接为自闭症小学生授课并管理相关项目的校长和特殊教育教师能够深入洞察可能影响学校全纳机会的因素，比如教育工作者的态度。这些态度可能成为促进全纳学校环境的障碍或助力因素。
对26位小学校长和26位特殊教育教师进行了半结构化访谈，探讨他们在美国26个独立教室中为自闭症学生实施循证实践（关键反应训练、离散式单元教学训练和视觉日程安排）的经验。特定于自闭症的文化和全纳成为一个主题，并针对此进行了本文的分析。
主题分析的归纳方法揭示了校长和特殊教育教师对学校中“特定于自闭症的文化”的看法，包括在更广泛的学校环境中对自闭症学生在独立教室中的态度和接纳情况。对与“特定于自闭症的文化”相关文本的分析详细阐述了全纳的各个方面、影响全纳的因素（即障碍和促进因素）、校长和特殊教育教师对安置在独立教室中的自闭症学生的态度、其他学校工作人员对独立教室教师的态度，以及支持为自闭症学生营造全纳学校环境的建议。
结果表明，仅重视自闭症学生在独立教室中“平等”参与课程和活动的机会，可能不足以促进全纳学校环境的形成。教育工作者可能会从促进全纳的针对性策略中受益。这些策略包括支持教育工作者对自闭症的态度和知识，以及改变学校环境的物理方面（如教室位置）。还讨论了支持自闭症学生在独立教室中真正全纳（即超越身体全纳的全纳）对学校的其他影响。
