Oppenheim David, Dolev Smadar, Hamburger Lior, Lottan Rony, Kunst Shimrit, Friedelman Jenny, Mottes-Peleg Michal, Yirmiya Nurit
School of Psychological Sciences and Center for the Study of Child Development, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
Department of Early Childhood Education, Oranim Academic College of Education, Kiryat Tiv'on, Israel.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2025 Feb 11. doi: 10.1007/s10803-025-06747-6.
Research on the impact of the classroom environment on neurotypical children has demonstrated that higher classroom quality contributes to children's development, but whether this is also true with regard to autistic preschoolers has not been examined. Therefore, the goal of this study was to address this gap hypothesizing that higher classroom quality would be associated with higher child social competence both in and outside the classroom. The quality of the classrooms of 43 autistic preschooler boys was assessed by observation, and children's social competence in preschool was assessed by observation and teacher-report, and outside preschool by observing children's interactions with an unfamiliar adult. Controlling for the severity of the boys' symptoms, results revealed that higher classroom emotional support and organization was associated with higher child social competence as observed and reported by teachers in preschool, and with the boys' involvement with of an unfamiliar adult during play. The quality of the classroom environment was associated with the social skills of autistic boys.
关于课堂环境对发育正常儿童影响的研究表明,较高的课堂质量有助于儿童的发展,但这对于自闭症学龄前儿童是否同样成立尚未得到检验。因此,本研究的目的是填补这一空白,假设较高的课堂质量将与儿童在课堂内外的较高社交能力相关联。通过观察对43名自闭症学龄前男孩的课堂质量进行了评估,通过观察和教师报告对儿童在幼儿园的社交能力进行了评估,并通过观察儿童与陌生成年人的互动对其在幼儿园外的社交能力进行了评估。在控制男孩症状严重程度的情况下,结果显示,较高的课堂情感支持和组织与教师在幼儿园观察和报告的较高儿童社交能力相关,也与男孩在玩耍时与陌生成年人的互动参与度相关。课堂环境质量与自闭症男孩的社交技能相关。