Knowledge and perception regarding autism among primary school teachers: A cross-sectional survey from Pakistan, South Asia

Abstract

Background:Early detection and intervention seem to improve development in autistic children, and teachers form an important part of their early social environment.Objectives:The objective of this study was to assess baseline knowledge and misconceptions regarding autism among school teachers and evaluate factors influencing their knowledge.Materials and Methods:This is a cross-sectional survey enrolling primary school teachers using a self-administered questionnaire.Results:Seventy-three teachers (mean age of 34 years, 66% females) responded. Gaps in awareness and knowledge were found. About 52 (71.2%) teachers identified themselves as having some knowledge about autism, with 23 (44.2%) among this group understanding autism as a neurological/mental disorder. The majority (73.1%) believe that special education is a helpful intervention. The only significant factor that influenced knowledge among teachers was attendance of behavioral classes (P = 0.01).Conclusion:Results suggest that teachers have an inadequate understanding of autism due to several misconceptions. This calls for increased education of teachers with regard to autism and other childhood disorders.

Knowledge, Awareness, and Perceptions Regarding Autism Among Parents in Karachi, Pakistan

“…A mean score of 5.59 was seen for the section regarding correct opinions for autism, with eight out of 13 being considered a good score, and a mean score of 6.84 for signs and symptoms was calculated, with a good score being decided as nine out of 14. The poor knowledge displayed by our participants is similarly seen in other studies, such as one conducted in Pakistan among pre-school teachers, of which only 50% were able to identify a majority of disease characteristics and one where only 17% of pre-school teachers being interviewed in China could answer more than 50% of the items accurately [ 13 - 14 ]. However, studies showing better awareness have also been conducted, such as a study among first-grade nursing and medical students in Istanbul where 70.9% were moderately aware of autism [ 15 ].…”

Teachers’ Knowledge Regarding Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): A Systematic Review

“…Overall, in this review we found a lack of knowledge in most of the articles reviewed coinciding with prior reviews [61,62] and other studies [45]. We found that most of the articles revealed low [64,66,68,71,75,76,79,[84][85][86]95] or medium [65,67,73,74,77,78,80,82,91] levels of knowledge about ASD among their participants, coinciding with prior studies [21,25,36,37]. Indeed, most of the studies showed misconceptions [75,85,91] and gaps, or a lack of knowledge [71,77,85,95].…”

“…In the case of studies with a pre-and post-test, we wrote down the first test result; in the other two situations, we calculated the average among article results. Eleven studies [64,66,68,71,75,76,79,[84][85][86]95] revealed low levels of knowledge regarding ASD among their participants; nine studies [65,67,73,74,77,78,80,82,91] reported medium knowledge, and five studies [65,87,89,90,92] described a high level of knowledge.…”

Teachers’ perceptions and attitudes on the inclusive education of students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD): A literature review

“…Furthermore, teachers expressed neutral attitudes towards the inclusion of students with autism in general education classrooms (Engstrand & Roll-Pettersson, 2012;Srivastava et al, 2017a), whereas special education teachers, who taught students with autism, had low to moderate levels of knowledge regarding autism, as well as low to moderately effective teaching practices for their students (Hendricks, 2011). Finally, in-service, preservice, and future teachers had no (or limited) knowledge as well as basic misconceptions about autism and the needs of students with autism in inclusive education classes (Ayub et al, 2017;Barned et al, 2011;Finch et al, 2013;Johnson et al, 2012;Rakap et al, 2016;Yasar & Cronin, 2014;Young et al, 2017).…”

“…The survey results reveal that participants felt inadequate in both teaching and dealing with students with autism, while there were not asking for assistance and training to improve their skills. Ayub et al (2017) investigated the knowledge and perceptions of 73 teachers (mean age of 34 years, 66% females) in Pakistan, South Asia. Their results reveal that there are gaps in awareness and knowledge of the teachers.…”