The Job Satisfaction of the Instructional Therapist: Future Considerations in the Quality of Treatment

For learning in children with autism to be effective, a strong, unique, child-centered relationship between the Instructional Therapist (IT) and the child must be present. In essence, the attachment that the IT shares with the child must be nurturing in nature. An examination of the value of job satisfaction may be a promising avenue to pursue in order to cultivate environments that boost child-IT relationships and the overall quality of learning in children with autism. In this pilot study it is hypothesized that a positive correlation exists between job satisfaction of the IT and the level of learning in the child with autism. A total of 10 ITs completed the Job Satisfaction Index. Their scores were correlated with the scores of 10 Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) sessions with 7 children with autism. Length of employment of ITs were also analyzed. ITs, on average, scored in the medium range on job satisfaction, while children with autism scored in the medium range on their IBI data scores. Data on the length of employment shows that the majority of ITs have been employed between one to seven months. The results of this study do not support the hypothesis but show that different questions need to be asked to assess what accounts for differential IT satisfaction scores and learning levels for children with autism. This paper hopes to initiate discussions about how to improve the quality of IBI from an intensive interaction standpoint between the child with autism and the IT. In many cases, the child with autism is connected to a myriad of professionals and paraprofessionals proficient in helping children with disabilities, known commonly as a multidisciplinary team. Involvement with a multidisciplinary team can be economically costly for parent