A key metaphor used to describe the complexity of what teachers do is that of professional knowledge landscapes. This conveys the idea that effective practice should be explored in relation to how teachers perceive pupils, but also to how teachers see themselves and questions of professional identity. The research reported here was part of a…

Many children may need the help of another person to attend school. It is common for children with disabilities to receive help from a teaching assistant at school. Assistants are provided in many countries as a legal right and are often publicly funded. It is also widely assumed that having teaching assistants in the class is an effective and…

Dominant deficit-focused discourses of autism have supported the use of specialised practices within education. This is despite the fact that recent micro-level research provides evidence of overlooked interactional competence in autistic children and problematises the idea of their unavailability to ordinary teaching methods. The aim of this…

This study evaluated the effects of an acceptability questionnaire on classroom aides' treatment integrity during implementation of behavioral intervention plans, using a multiple-probe-baseline across-participants design. Four classroom aides in a special education preschool classroom rarely used procedures recommended to manage the challenging…

Based on the complex dynamic system approach, this research aimed to study the variability of the typical configurations of interactions between the adults' participation and the engagement of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in two activities proposed in a French preschool. The classroom sessions were filmed once a month for 8 months…

This study examined the Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities of typically developing preschoolers in three age groups: three- to four-, four- to five- and five- to six-years-old (n = 110), who differed in their spontaneous social interest toward included children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Social interest was assessed by administering a…

The human rights issue of inclusion in education has been the focus of numerous legislative and policy documents around the world. The right of a student with additional needs to access their local school and participate in mainstream classrooms has been mandated for numerous years across many nations. Increasing numbers of students with…

The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate the level of skills and training needs reported by special educators and teaching associates in functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and behavioral interventions within special education (SPED) schools in Singapore. The Skills and Needs Inventories in Functional Behavior Assessments and…

The ability to engage in positive social interactions is an important goal for young children with developmental disabilities (DDs). Peer-mediated intervention (PMI), one category of interventions often employed with those who show social skill deficits, involves use of typical peers who live model appropriate behaviors. A second frequent category…

According to government policy in Ireland, special needs assistants (SNAs) may be employed in post-primary schools to support students deemed to have chronic and serious care needs. There is currently no national policy regarding the continuing professional development (CPD) of SNAs, to meet the requirements of their role. This study investigated…

Teachers are often faced with the challenge of teaching students with high functioning autism without any formal professional development in autism. Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) are a service which is able to provide short-term support for teachers. One of the roles of RTLB is to provide teachers with the required support to…

The shift in paradigm from exclusion to inclusion in education in Zimbabwe, in alignment with the global world, has resulted in a significant number of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) being educated in mainstream primary school classrooms. Consequently, new demands are being made on teachers who are not necessarily adequately…

There is considerable need for adoptable evidence-based interventions for implementation in public classrooms serving children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) during the preschool years, an important period in neurodevelopment. Barriers to implementation, including gaps in teacher education, contribute to the research-to-practice gap, and may…

Supporting pupils with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in mainstream schools is a challenging task. This article proposes a professional development framework for educational psychologists (EPs) to consider when supporting the development of specialist ASD staff. The framework focuses on training content, educator characteristics and organisational…

The content and structure of pre-service and teacher-aide programs has major implications for training, management, support and deployment of teachers and teacher-aides in mainstream schools working with students who have ASD. Data pertaining to course content and structure were collected from university and teacher-aide training websites, program…