Special Education Teachers’ Experiences With and Attitudes Towards Social Skills Instruction to Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Teaching students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at all educational and developmental levels represents a fundamental challenge for special education teachers. Teaching social skills, particularly to students with ASD, is arduous for two reasons: first, barriers in communication are paramount deficits in autism, and second, impairment in social skills makes social and vocational integration difficult for these students. Nevertheless, special education teachers' viewpoints greatly influence these students' outcomes. This study examined special education teachers' lived experiences and attitudes while providing social skills instruction (SSI) to their students with ASD in separate alternative day schools that serve students with significant disabilities. Vygotsky’s principles guided the study using a socio-constructive framework. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data, and a thematic analysis was performed. The findings demonstrated that although special education teachers had poor college/university preparedness, they developed favorable attitudes toward teaching students with ASD and taught themselves, along the way, how to teach social skills. The main themes allowed the comprehension of the curriculum that should be developed for students with ASD, the challenges these teachers face to implement SSI, and the employed strategies by the teachers. The findings emphasized the necessity of acknowledging the heterogeneity among students with ASD and customizing SSI according to their individual developmental requirements. Acknowledging the diverse developmental stages of students with ASD in a single classroom, special education teachers showed commitment and effort to comprehend their pupils' needs to modify objectives and teaching techniques. The results call for customized training and in-service programs for SSI to overcome existing constraints special education teachers face. Practical implications for decision-makers at the college/university and school district level indicated the corrective measures that should be applied to current policies and coursework in special education. This includes the need to improve the preparedness of future special education teachers for making curricular connections to provide SSI.