Effectiveness of Classroom Strategies for Children with Autism in Mainstream Classroom

AIM : To assess out the effectiveness of classroom strategies for children with autism in mainstream classroom. METHOD : 20 children with autism and 24 teachers were included in the control group(N=10,12) and experimental group(N=10,12). Canadian Occupational Performance Scale, Teachers Attitude Towards Inclusion Scale, and Behaviour Rating Scale were used before and after the use of classroom strategies. Post test after the intervention was done to measure the Occupational Performance, Teachers Attitude towards Inclusion and change in behaviour. RESULTS : In the experimental group, COPM, there was a significant difference in the pretest and post test of the performance (p=0.005) and satisfaction (p=0.013) component of COPM. When goals addressed in the control and experiment groups were compared between groups, it showed significant difference in the post tests of both the groups in performance (u=0.005) and satisfaction (u=0.005) component of COPM. The pre test and post test of the POS (attitude towards student with disability in inclusive setting) and total component showed significant difference (p= 0.003 and 0.004) where as there is no significant difference in the control group. On comparing the change in the behaviour, the children in the experimental group showed a greater difference compared to the control group. CONCLUSION : The classroom strategies have a positive effect on the occupational performance for children with autism in mainstream classroom. It is effective in bringing positive attitude among teachers towards inclusion. It also improve the classroom behaviours of the children