Are We Ready? Early Childhood Educator Students and Perceived Preparedness for School-Based Special Education

Abstract

his paper describes a small-scale, single-region research project to investigate early childhood educator (ECE) students’ understanding of special education in the kindergarten context that has been in place in Ontario schools since 2010. The perceived preparedness of five ECE students on placement in kindergarten classrooms was evaluated through pre- and poststudy questionnaires and through interviews with five Ontario-certified teachers teaching early learners and experienced with mentoring ECE students. Results demonstrated that ECE students’ self-ratings of combined knowledge, exposure, and experience with school-based special education did not significantly change, and these student rankings fell in the very low to moderate ratings overall (i.e., scores of 1 to 2 on a 5-point scale). Comments from the Ontario-certified teachers emerged in three main themes, including (1) strong foundations (i.e., skills and knowledge); (2) education for all (e.g., students who may not yet be formally identified); and, (3) universal frameworks (i.e., for all students with diverse needs). Suggestions for ECE preparedness and ECE curriculum changes are included.

Feasibility of Training Early Childhood Educators in a Community Child Care Setting Using a Caregiver-mediated Intervention for Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Although many early childhood education trainees were familiar with the core impairments of ASD (e.g., social-communication challenges, language and sensory difficulties), there was limited understanding of the more complex symptoms or associated features such as eating difficulties and nonfunctional play (Barned et al, 2011;Johnson et al, 2012). Importantly, many trainees reported feeling unprepared for special education in their classrooms and stated they wished to learn more about ASD as they felt that this knowledge was necessary for their future as an educator (Barned et al, 2011;Maich & Hall, 2014). Future ECEs also stated that their most common source of information regarding ASD was their educational curriculum, which points to the importance of including, and perhaps enhancing, training about interventions within the curriculum for early childhood education programs (Johnson et al, 2012).…”