Can participation in an online ASD training enhance attitudes toward inclusion, teaching self-Efficacy and ASD knowledge among preservice educators in diverse cultural contexts?

ABSTRACT

As the number of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) increases, so does the need for teacher training about inclusive education. We adapted an online training to provide pre-service teachers with strategies to integrate students with ASD into the classroom and evaluated it in two culturally diverse contexts. Students majoring in Education from the United States (Georgia; n = 84) and Canada (Québec; n = 117) completed the training and filled out pre- and post-training questionnaires. Initial attitudes toward inclusion were significantly more positive in Georgia than Québec. Participation in the training was associated with improved attitudes towards inclusion across both contexts and with improved ASD teaching self-efficacy and knowledge in Québec. Increased self-efficacy in Georgia was associated with a social desirability bias. This study demonstrates that a brief online training can promote positive attitudes toward inclusion across contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• ASD
• training
• teacher
• inclusion
• cross-cultural

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Laboratoire de Recherche sur les Familles d’enfants Autistes et leur Famille and the Consortium National de Recherche sur l’Intégration Sociale (No grants’ numbers assigned).

Notes on contributors

Sabine Saade

Sabine Saade is currently an Assistant Professor. Sabine’s research pertains to ASD including the evaluation of the effectiveness of behavioural interventions based on ABA principles, the evaluation of trainings offered to teachers of children with ASD to help integrate them into regular classrooms and the use of technology for training and intervention purposes.

Yvette F. Bean

Yvette Bean is currently a doctoral student. Her research focuses on cross cultural differences in service access and ASD symptom presentation.

Kristen Gillespie-Lynch

Kristen Gillespie-Lynch is an Associate Professor. Guided by collaborations with people with ASD, she co-constructs and evaluates interventions to empower adolescents and adults with ASD and reduce stigma.

Nathalie Poirier

Nathalie Poirier is an Associate Professor. Her research projects pertain to the favouring of individuals with ASD’s quality of life, training their teachers and supporting their parents.

Ashley J. Harrison

Ashley Harrison is an Associate Professor. In terms of research, she is interested in identifying mechanisms that contribute to ASD service disparities. To this end, she is engaged in a range of projects assessing: (a) global discrepancies in ASD knowledge and stigma, (b) sociocultural variability in ASD symptom presentation such as attentional allocation, and (c) barriers to accessing early intervention and early childhood special education.