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A comparison of teacher and parent views of autism

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Abstract

Changing conceptualizations of autism have led to an increased focus on parents and teachers as treatment agents. In order to evaluate the views of autism held by these two groups, 47 teachers of autistic students and 47 parents of autistic children completed a survey assessing beliefs regarding various aspects of the disorder. Parent and teacher responses were compared to those obtained from a group of 22 “specialists” in autism, drawn from across the country. Both parents and teachers were found to harbor misconceptions regarding cognitive, developmental, and emotional features of autism. Furthermore, parents and teachers hold discrepant views in some areas that may have implications for their collaborative efforts.

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The preparation of this paper was supported in part by the Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources System through a state general revenue appropriation for evaluation services in exceptional student education. Special thanks are extended to Annette La Greca, Gary Mesibov, and Rick Urbano, for their comments on early versions of the survey, and to Peter Mundy, Gene Fisch, and Debra Eger, for their assistance in distributing the survey.

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Stone, W.L., Rosenbaum, J.L. A comparison of teacher and parent views of autism. J Autism Dev Disord 18, 403–414 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02212195

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