Teaching Children with High Functioning Autism – What Teachers Understand About High Functioning Autism and What Support They Would Like to Receive.

Abstract

Teachers are often faced with the challenge of teaching students with high functioning autism without any formal professional development in autism. Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) are a service which is able to provide short-term support for teachers. One of
the roles of RTLB is to provide teachers with the required support to further develop their skills to enable them to effectively teach students with high functioning autism. The current study explored teachers’ understanding of high functioning autism and aimed to identify what support teachers of these students would like to receive. Results indicated that, contrary to some previous studies, teachers have an understanding of the characteristics of autism. Results also identified support that teachers would like to receive. The supports identified are supports that RTLB are able to provide.