Teacher's practices and the development of social engagement skills of young children with autism in selected special schools

• Main Author: Fortun, Melanie A.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2011
• Subjects: Autistic children—Education; Autistic children—Means of communication; Social skills in children; Social skills—Study and teaching; Special Education and Teaching
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/6482; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etd_masteral/article/12993/viewcontent/CDTG004939_P.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

This qualitative and descriptive study sought to identify teachers’ practices in the development of the non-verbal and verbal social engagement skills of young children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in selected special schools Participants of the present investigation consisted of four special education teachers and four young students diagnosed with autism. Three research instruments were used in the study, namely: interview questionnaire for the SPED teachers to identify their classroom or actual practices, an observational data rating scale to verify which of these practices are deemed as effective, and an anecdotal recording form to describe the nonverbal social engagement skills, verbal social initiation competence, and verbal social response skills of the student participants after the implementation of various interventions. The findings of the study revealed that the challenging social engagement behaviors exhibited by young students with autism are providing physical affection; social verbal initiations like greetings, requesting assistance, requesting information, requesting participation, and complimenting; and using polite words. Also, there are varied teachers’ practices to develop the non-verbal and verbal social engagement skills of young student participants diagnosed with autism in the selected special schools. These practices include the use of the following teaching methods or strategies: Behavioral Modification Techniques (BMT), direct instruction, play, picture communication symbols, and imitation / modeling. Based on the observations made by the researcher, these practices were found to be effective in the development of most of heir non-verbal social engagement skills and verbal social response skills. However, the teachers’ practices in developing specific non-verbal social engagement skills such as accepting and providing physical contact; social initiation skills; and verbal social response skills, particularly the appropriate and spontaneous use of polite words of these young children were found to be inadequate. One of the recommendations given in study was the provision of seminars, trainings, and workshops on the development of social skills to expand the awareness and know-how of teachers and administrators on the various effective teachers’ practices already available to other young children diagnosed with ASD.