Early Childhood Special Educators of Children with Asd's Use of Evidence-Based Practices

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with impairments in cognitive, communicative, and social abilities that affects 1:59 individuals across the lifespan (Baio et al. 2018). The importance of understanding the course, nature, and treatment of this syndrome in the early preschool years is often emphasized (Courchesne & Pierce, 2005; Dawson, 2008; Mundy & Sigman, 1989; Mundy, Sullivan, & Mastergeorge, 2009). However, there is a gap in what is known about early childhood special education (ECSE) teachers of children with ASD.

Objectives: Specifically, this proposal aims to examine whether and to what extent ECSE teachers of preschool-aged children with ASD utilize evidence-based practices.

Methods: The current proposal uses data from a large study on ECSE classrooms in Ohio. The larger study included 77 teachers and 750 children. Forty-five teachers from the larger study indicated that they serve children with ASD and answered open-ended questions about the instruction they use in their classrooms across a wide-range of skills. Their responses are being coded based on the 27 evidence-based practices identified by Wong et al. (2015).

Results: Preliminary results indicate that ECSE teachers seem to be using evidence-based strategies when targeting social and communication goals; however, they may not be implementing evidence-based practices as frequently when targeting motor and joint attention goals. Further analyses to will describe the use of evidence-based practices. Potential correlations with teacher demographics and classroom characteristics will be explored.

Conclusions: These results will be discussed as they pertain to the research to practice gap. The implications of these findings for both classroom instruction and teacher preparation will be discussed. The overall discussion will center on the potential interconnectedness of each of the findings and the overall implications for children with ASD.