A Descriptive Analyis of Elementary SCHOOL Students' Conceptions of AUTISM

Background: Within public schools, roughly 30-40% of students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are educated alongside typically developing peers (Sanford, Levine, & Blackorby, 2008).  Inclusion is thought to yield social benefits by (a) reducing stigma (b) fostering social learning of appropriate behavior (c) inspiring social acceptance and (d) improving social status of students with ASD (Frederickson, 2010).  Successful inclusion strategies are especially important since students with ASD experience less social acceptance, social reciprocity and peer companionship than their peers (Chamberlain et al., 2007).

Objectives: In order facilitate acceptance and enhance peer education, it is important to identify what typical children know, think and believe about autism. Prior studies indicate that elementary students have little knowledge of autism. For example, Magiati et al. (2002) reported that no children had heard of the word autism. Middle school students report greater awareness (Campbell & Barger, 2009); however, many lack knowledge about its symptoms, chronicity, and lack of communicability. In the present investigation, we aim to update knowledge about elementary school students’ conceptions of autism using a recently developing coding scheme. Overall, we aim to provide a more detailed understanding of elementary school students’ conceptions of autism in order to identify curricular targets for peer education interventions.  

Methods: Participants were 158 students (82 boys, and 75 girls), ages 9 to 12 from Baltimore, MD (n = 88), Syracuse, NY (n = 28) and two schools in Albany, NY (n = 31 and n = 11). Investigators asked students if they had prior contact with an individual with autism and provide a written definition of autism. Definitions were coded for accuracy and content with Campbell et al.’s (2010) “What is Autism?” Coding manual. 

Results: Over three-quarters (77.22%, n = 122) of the participants endorsed prior contact with an individual with autism. Girls (51.7%; n = 62) were more likely to report prior contact than boys (48.3%; n = 58). The majority of students with previous exposure to autism were 10 (33.9%; n = 41) or 11 (37.2%; n = 45) compared to 9 (13.2%; n = 16) and 12 (15.7%; n = 19) year olds. Accuracy and content coding proved to be reliable with κ = .706 - 1.0; we found poor inter-rater agreement for discrimination between content describing associated symptoms and attributions of characteristics. After combining codes, agreement was acceptable (κ = .840). We calculated frequency counts for accuracy of responses and content in various areas, such as report of core symptoms and etiology. Most (70.7%) responses were judged to be accurate and a majority of respondents (53.5%) reported that autism was a disability; however, few identified social difficulties as characteristic of autism (22.22%).  

Conclusions: Elementary school students report greater awareness of autism than in prior studies (e.g., 77% versus 0%) and many understand that autism is a disability; however, students reported little understanding about social, communicative, and behavioral difficulties characteristics of students with autism. Peer education efforts should target improving students’ basic understanding of autism to facilitate greater awareness and acceptance.