Autism spectrum disorders and inclusive education: analysis of social attitudes of teachers and students toward inclusion

Abstract

The objective of this study was to describe the social attitudes of teachers and students that are constituent of the school environment of children with autism spectrum disorders, about inclusion. 73 teachers and 116 students from four public schools, two schools with no experience of inclusive education and two schools with children with autism spectrum disorders took part in the study. The two children with autism spectrum disorders were 10 years old boys attending 5th grade. Tests of language and behavior assessment were used with the two children with autism spectrum disorders. In order to measure the social attitudes of the teachers, the Likert Scale of Social Attitudes toward Inclusion was used. For the measure of student´s social attitudes, the Child Scale of Social Attitudes was used. The results showed that there were no differences among the scores of four groups of teachers. The social attitudes of the peers of the child with autism spectrum disorders with a less severe clinical symptom were more positive than the social attitudes of other three groups.