Teachers Perspectives on Barriers of Inclusion of Autistic Students in Saudi Arabia Schools

Attitudes of Saudi Arabian Elementary School Teachers ‎Toward the Inclusion of Students with Autism Spectrum ‎Disorder in the General Education Classroom

“…The participants agreed that teacher preparation and training were among the most important factors affecting their attitudes toward students with ASD. This corroborates the findings of other studies (Ahmed, 2021;Al Jaffal, 2022;Al-Saleh, 2019) that teachers in the Saudi context lacked training to successfully create an inclusive setting for ASD students. As mentioned above, the GE teachers in this study did not interact very well with their students with ASD, and one GE teacher lacked knowledge about the disabilities of students in her classroom.…”

“…The study demonstrated a current lack of inclusive teaching practices, as GE teachers were using traditional teaching methods without modifying the national curriculum for students with ASD and without providing evidence-based practices or supportive materials, such as visual schedules, picture communication exchange systems, and digital technologies (Wong et al, 2015). This finding contradicts the work of Ahmed (2021), who surveyed 120 teachers in Riyadh and found that GE teachers did not know how to apply different teaching methods for students with ASD. Fleury et al (2014) also explained that the number of students with ASD accessing the GE setting continues to grow.…”