Knowledge and Practice of Special Education Teachers in Teaching Social Skills to Students with Autism

Abstract

Special education teachers need to have the knowledge and skills to plan and execute effective teaching strategies to improve the social skills of their students with autism. This study investigates the knowledge and skills of special education teachers in Malaysia in teaching social skills to students with autism. A qualitative study design was adopted where data was collected by conducting semi-structured interviews. Through a purposive sampling method, twelve special education teachers who taught students with autism in seven states in Malaysia were recruited as respondents. The results show that the knowledge of autism amongst special education teachers is low and inadequate. Respondents also reported not receiving adequate training on autism and teaching students with autism. This research also put forward some suggestions to overcome the issues highlighted by the findings, mainly emphasizing the teachers’ desperate need for training and the need for both teacher training modules on autism and modules on teaching social skills to these students.