Parent opinions on the individualisation of education of children with autism spectrum disorders at schools.

Straipsnyje nagrinėjamos tėvų, auginančių vaikus, turinčius autizmo spektro sutrikimą (ASS), nuomonės apie jų vaikų ugdymosi individualizavimą mokyklose. Atlikta teorinė tėvų, auginančių ASS turinčius vaikus, partnerystės su mokytojais aktualumo, jų dalyvavimo jų vaikų institucinio ugdymo procese galimybių analizė; apžvelgtos vaikų, turinčių ASS, specialiosios ugdymo strategijos ir ugdymo individualizavimo bendrosiose mokyklose galimybės. Empirinis tyrimas atliktas tėvų (N=104), auginančių ASS turinčius vaikus, anketinės apklausos metodu, kiekybinių duomenų analizei taikomi aprašomosios statistikos metodai. Atsakymai į atvirus klausimus išnagrinėti taikant kokybinę ir kiekybinę turinio analizę.The article examines the opinions of parents raising children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) about the individualisation of their children’s education at schools. A theoretical analysis of the relevance of the partnership of parents raising children with ASD with teachers and possibilities of their participation in the process of institutional education of their children has been carried out; special educational strategies for children with ASD and opportunities for individualisation of education in general education schools have been reviewed. The empirical study was performed by the method of survey of the parents (N=104) raising children with ASD; the methods of descriptive statistics were used to analyse quantitative data. The answers to the open-ended questions were examined using qualitative and quantitative content analysis. The analysis of the results of the study revealed the parent opinions about the participation of the parents of children with ASD in the preparation of individual education plan and the most important educational goals of these children. Nearly half of the parents surveyed said that their children with ASD have individual education plans, and a second part of them said that their child has no individual education plan. According to the majority of parents raising children with ASD, teachers, class teachers, special teachers, and other educators of the educational institution are involved in preparing the individual education plan (IEP). According to the respondents, they, as the child’s parents, would like to have more opportunities to actively participate in the preparation of the IEP. A small proportion of the respondents confirmed that their child directly participated in the preparation of the IEP, and a small number of the parents agreed that their child with ASD should participate in the development of the individual education plan. According to the parents who participated in the study, when preparing the IEP, schools pay the most attention to the thinking characteristics, interests of the child with ASD; his/her verbal communication and speech comprehension skills, but much more consideration should be provided to the child’s ability to adapt to changes and other personal characteristics (social maturity, interests; peculiarities of sensory integration, social interaction skills). However, the respondents would prefer teachers take greater account of the child’s specificities of learning (acquisition of knowledge) and transactional skills: speech comprehension, speaking skills, peculiarities of thinking; adaptation to changes, and others. The parents consider that the needs of children with ASD, as regards their social maturity, the peculiarities of sensory integration, and other personal characteristics, are also taken into account insufficiently. The parents who participated in the study focused on the development of social skills (cooperation, communication, appropriate behaviour in various situations), non-verbal, verbal and thinking skills that are important for transactional learning; less important goals are to provide subject knowledge; to develop skills of practical application of knowledge; to teach to learn. According to the respondents, interactive tasks performed using the ICT; visual methods (pictures, videos, visualised tasks); games, plays, etc. are suitable for children with ASD; verbal methods (interpretation, narration, conversation) are less suitable; the application of active learning in groups and pairs is considered by parents to be appropriate for a small number of children with ASD. Factor analysis of the parents’ responses revealed the features of individualisation they observed in lessons: child-centred teaching; focus on the child’s success; elements of structured education. The greatest dispersion of the child-centred teaching factor shows that at schools, parents are more likely to notice ways of individualising education that are appropriate for almost all learners with special educational needs. The insignificant dispersion of the factors Focus on the child’s success and Elements of structured education shows that the parents of children with ASD who participated in the study observed a lack of ways to individualize education in schools. The content analysis of the answers about the individualisation of the educational environment revealed that in the opinion of parents, teachers apply combinations of diverse educational methods and ways of structuring activities at different levels: structuring daily activities; lesson structure; visual structuring of the task flow. The ways of visual structuring of the environment and activities dominate. However, according to some respondents, visualisation is ineffective for their children; this is consistent with the findings of other authors’ studies that not all children with ASD have a strength in visual perception. According to some parents, at schools they see a lack of structuring of the educational environment and/or activities for a child with ASD