Turkish Parents, Teachers, and Faculty Members Opinions and Experiences on Safety Skills Instruction for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Elif Tekin-Iftar,Belva C Collins,Nursinem Sirin

doi:10.26822/iejee.2021.197

Abstract

Although sometimes neglected, safety skills instruction should be considered as important a teaching area as others (e.g., self-care, academic, communication skills) because these skills can lead to more independence in a less restrictive environment. The researchers designed this study to reveal the opinions of Turkish parents, teachers, and higher education faculty members regarding safety skills instruction for children with an autism spectrum disorder.They interviewed parents (n = 11), special education teachers (n = 16), and higher education faculty members (n = 11) and analyzed the resulting data descriptively. Findings showed both parents and teachers lacked information about safety skills and how to teach them. Higher education faculty members advised using evidence-based practices in teaching safety skills and stated that safety skills instruction was not covered in the special education teacher training curriculum in the programs in which they taught. Implications and future research needs are discussed.

Highlights

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex disability characterized by social communication and interaction impairments accompanied by repetitive behaviors, and restrictive interests and activities (American Psychiatric Association, 2013)
There are no studies on the risk rates in Turkey, it can be assumed that the need for safety skill instruction is the same
This study explored the opinions of Turkish parents and teachers of students with ASD and of faculty members who teach in a graduate program in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) regarding SS instruction

Summary

Introduction

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex disability characterized by social communication and interaction impairments accompanied by repetitive behaviors, and restrictive interests and activities (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). There is agreement that the number of individuals diagnosed with ASD has been rising steadily (e.g., Christensen et al, 2016; Kogan et al, 2009). This rising rate places huge demands on health, education, and social systems of the countries since children with ASD require appropriate education and care to become more independent. There are no studies on the risk rates in Turkey, it can be assumed that the need for safety skill instruction is the same

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