The role of experience in teachers’ social representation of students with autism spectrum diagnosis (Asperger)

Abstract

Support from teachers is a key strategy for accommodating students with Asperger syndrome (AS) diagnosis in the mainstream classroom. Teachers’ understanding and expectations of students, i.e. their social representations (SR), have a bearing on how they interact and accommodate, but little is known about why. Therefore, the current study examined the idea that teachers’ SR of these students are influenced by their previous experience with AS. To this end, Swedish mainstream teachers were invited to anonymously answer a web-based questionnaire (N = 153). An association task was used to obtain data on teachers’ SR and the content and structure of the SR were explored. Our results suggest that work-related experience of AS and/or private experience shape teachers’ SR of these students relative to teachers with no experience. Moreover, teachers with previous experience had more SR elements related to environment and learning factors while teachers without previous experience had more elements related to the individual’s behavior. Teachers with private experience produced fewer positive elements compared to those with work-related experience only. These results highlight the role of contextual factors and prior experience in forming SR. We conclude that contact with students with AS, e.g. during teacher training, could facilitate accommodation in mainstream schools.

Keywords:

• autism spectrum disorder
• Asperger diagnosis
• teacher experience
• social representations
• inclusion
• social representation theory

Public Interest Statement

Preventing students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) from dropping out of school is a worldwide concern and in particular for teachers in mainstream classrooms. Teachers’ understanding and expectations have bearing on how they interact with and accommodate these students. Therefore, the current study examined whether various kinds of experience influence how teachers in Sweden perceive students with AS. Experiences seem to play a vital role in teachers’ positive view of inclusion of students with ASD. Teachers with private experience were less positive than teachers with work-related experience. Prior contact with students with ASD e.g. during teacher training could facilitate accommodation in mainstream classrooms.

Additional information

Funding

Funding. The authors received no direct funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Ann-Charlotte Linton

Ann-Charlotte Linton is a teacher in special education specializing in adolescents within the autism spectrum. She has a master’s degree in Education from the University of Greenwich, UK, and an MA in Pedagogics from Uppsala University and an MA in Special Education Pedagogics from Örebro University, Sweden. She is currently a doctoral student at Linköping University and the Swedish Institute for Disability Research, a leading European center for research in disability covering medical, technical, as well as behavioral and cultural aspects. Her research interest is adaptations required for inclusive education focusing on school staff’s perceptions of inclusion of students with autism spectrum disorder.