doi:10.1155/2012/656981 Research Article Looking through the Same Eyes? Do Teachers ’ Participation Ratings Match with Ratings of Students with Autism Spectrum Conditions in Mainstream Schools?

Copyright © 2012 Marita Falkmer et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To create an inclusive classroom and act accordingly, teachers ’ understanding of the experiences of participation of students with autism spectrum conditions (ASCs) is crucial. This understanding may depend on the teachers ’ professional experiences, support and personal interests. The aim of the present questionnaire study was to investigate how well the teachers ’ ratings of their students with ASCs ’ perception of participation matched with the students ’ own ratings. Furthermore, possible correlations between the accuracy of teachers ’ ratings and the teachers ’ self-reported professional experience, support (including support-staff), and personal interest were investigated. Teachers ’ ratings were also used to examine how their understandings correlated with classroom actions. The agreements between teachers ’ and students ’ ratings were moderate to high, and the ability to attune to the students ’ perception of participation was not affected by the presence of a support-staff. The teachers ’ personal interest i