In this study the education is identified as one of the key performance areas in the occupational therapy practice framework. The occupation of education includes academic (math, reading , writing), non-academic (recess, lunch, self-help skills), extracurricular (sports, band, cheerleading, clubs), and prevocational and vocational activities. The objective of this study is to assess out the effectiveness of classroom strategies for children with autism in mainstream classroom. The methodology adopted under this study is 20 children with autism and 24 teachers were included in the control group(N=10,12) and experimental group(N=10,12). Canadian Occupational Performance Scale, Teachers Attitude Towards Inclusion Scale, and Behaviour Rating Scale were used before and after the use of classroom strategies. The results of this study are experimental group, COPM, there was a significant difference in the pretest and post-test of the performance (p=0.005) and satisfaction (p=0.013) component of COPM. When goals addressed in the control and experiment groups were compared between groups, it showed significant difference in the post tests of both the groups in performance (u=0.005) and satisfaction (u=0.005) component of COPM. The pre-test and post-test of the POS (attitude towards student with disability in inclusive setting) and total component showed significant difference (p= 0.003 and 0.004) whereas there is no significant difference in the control group. The classroom strategies have a positive effect on the occupational performance for children with autism in mainstream classroom. It is effective in bringing positive attitude among teachers towards inclusion. It also improves the classroom behaviours of the children.
Read full abstract