2021 Volume 69 Issue 1 Pages 79-94
The present study examined mechanisms underlying peers' behavior toward children in their general education classes who are suspected of having autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Teachers (N=95) from 14 elementary schools completed questionnaires about peers' behavior requiring support and peers' alternative behavior. The KJ method (writing the data on cards, organizing the cards into groups, and summarizing those results) was referred to in order to analyze the replies from the teachers (n=35) who taught classes that included children suspected of having autism spectrum disorder and who had reported that those children might suffer because of their peers' behavior. A mechanism of the peers' behavior requiring support was that when the children suspected of having autism spectrum disorder spoke and behaved differently from their peers, their peers teased, warned, and excluded them. After that, either the children quarreled, or the peers enjoyed their activities while excluding the children suspected of having autism spectrum disorder. Mechanisms of the peers' alternative behavior reported by the teachers were that (a) the peers amicably communicated with the children suspected of having autism spectrum disorder when they had something in common to play with or talk about, and (b) when they could work separately on differing interests, the peers did not interact with the children suspected of having autism spectrum disorder. The discussion suggests 4 areas of support that might increase these desirable alternative peer behaviors: increasing the opportunities for all children to play and talk together, preparing the environment so that peers and children suspected of having autism spectrum disorder could work separately on differing interests, observing the interactions of children suspected of having autism spectrum disorder and their peers during breaks, and listening closely to peers' expression of their feelings.
