2013 Volume 51 Issue 2 Pages 81-92
The present study investigated the composition of classes at special schools for children with intellectual disabilities and the connection between class composition and teachers' awareness in relation to their teaching methods and educational practices used with students with autism. Participants in the study, 605 teachers working in the elementary sections of 18 special schools for children with intellectual disabilities, completed questionnaires. Factor analysis and 2-way ANOVA (class composition x age) were performed to compare the teachers' awareness. The results were as follows: (a) the special schools were categorized into 3 types: type A, schools offering autism-specific classes; type B, schools in which classes were composed by developmental level, but which did not have autism-specific classes; and type C, schools that composed classes by chronological grade. (b) Teachers at type A schools stressed "structuring the environment" as a teaching method more than teachers did at the other two types of schools. Teachers at schools that were types B and C stressed "relationships" more than teachers at type A schools did. Teachers at types A and C schools regarded improvement in pupils' skills as a valuable practice more than did those at type B schools. The main effect of age was significant only in "inconsistency of dealing with children among colleagues". These results suggest that class composition affects teachers' awareness in relation to their educational methodology when teaching children with autism.
