Impact of training in Autism on inclusive practices

Advances in Autism, Ahead of Print. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of training on educational staff attitudes, sentiments, concerns and efficacy in providing support for children with Autism in mainstream settings. Design/methodology/approach The investigation adopted a pre-test/post-test, quasi-experimental, within-subject research design. In total, 35 early years educators, teachers and pupil support assistants from one Scottish Local Authority (LA) undertook training delivered by the LA ’s Communication and Language Outreach Service. Measures included the Sentiments, Attitudes, and Concerns about Inclusive Education Revised (SACIE-R) scale and the teacher efficacy for inclusive practices (TEIP) scale pre and post-training. Post-training participants completed a questionnaire empl oying open and closed questions to assess perceived usefulness of training, application of knowledge and effectiveness of the teaching strategies. Findings Combining data from the three sectors there was a significant change in staff efficacy for inclusive practices (z=−3.406, p=0.001, p<0.05, with a medium effect size r=0.41) although there were differences between the sectors. There was a significant change in SACIE-R total scores (z= −3.945, p=0.000, p<0.05; with a medium effect size r=0.47), sentiments (z= −2.763, p=0.006, p<0.05; with a medium effect size r=0.33) and concerns (z= −3.685, p=0.000, p<0.05; with a medium effect size of r=0.44...
Source: Advances in Autism - Category: Child Development Source Type: research