Consistency Among School Psychologists' Training, Beliefs, and Implementation in Autism Evidence-Based Treatments

There has been an increase in the number of students with high functioning autism who are mainstreamed and would, therefore be entitled to mandated counseling services (AFIRM, 2019). On the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) website, there are several evidence-based interventions that are listed for students with autism. One of them is peer network interventions, as there is research on the effectiveness of modeling, dating back to the social learning theory (Bandura, 1971). However, research has not been conducted on using modeling in the moment of an interaction between a neurotypical peer and a student with autism. This could therefore help neurotypical peers to better understand students with autism and to better convey empathy. While these evidence-based interventions are available for training and implementation, few studies explore this consistency between training opportunities and implementation, specific to autism (IDEA, 2018). There were 797 school psychologist participants from across the country who completed an online survey using Qualtrics. This survey was conducted to explore school psychologists’ training, beliefs, and actual implementation of evidence-based treatments, overall, and specific to the autism population. Participants were recruited through the National Association of School Psychologists website and through social media groups for school psychologists on Facebook. It was hypothesized that school psychologists who received both autism specific graduate training and attended an autism training event had more favorable attitudes and confidence in implementing evidence-based interventions. School psychologists with more autism specific graduate training and who attended a more recent autism training event were hypothesized to demonstrate greater basic autism knowledge and less stigma towards those with autism. It was also hypothesized that school psychologists with more formal autism graduate training and who attended a more recent autism training event intervened more proactively in the context of a mixed dyad between a student with autism and a neurotypical peer. School psychologists with more autism specific graduate training and who attended a more recent autism training event were hypothesized to demonstrate less overall social desirability, self-deceptive enhancement (unaware of own social desirability), and impression management (aware of own social desirability). Results were analyzed using Pearson correlations (r), to determine the relationships among variables. Results indicated that participants who had more exposure to autism in their graduate training also attended a more recent autism training event. Furthermore, participants who had more autism exposure in their training and attended a more recent event demonstrated significantly more confidence in using evidence-based interventions and implemented evidence-based interventions more frequently, overall, and specifically with the autism population. Participants with more basic autism knowledge also demonstrated significantly more favorable attitudes and willingness to implement evidence-based interventions and to intervene more proactively in the context of a mixed dyad (i.e. a neurotypical peer and a student with autism). An additional finding indicated that 46% of school psychologists attended an event within 0-5 years of beginning their position, which lends support that more recent graduates may be more open to specialized training opportunities. Implications for future research are discussed