The Impact of a Student's Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder on General Education Teachers' Attitudes

Background: This study examines the extent to which disclosure of a diagnostic label specific to autism impacts teachers’ attitudes, feelings of self-efficacy, and response to student behaviors in a general education setting.  General education teachers were asked to read a vignette about a hypothetical student who displayed some challenging behaviors. In one condition, teachers were told that the student has an autism spectrum disorder.  In the other condition, this information was not provided.  Differences in teachers’ ratings were examined between these two groups.

Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of diagnostic labeling a student as having an autism spectrum disorder on general education teachers’: (1) attitudes toward the student; (2) use of positive practices versus punishment toward student challenging behaviors; and (3) feelings of teacher self-efficacy.

Methods: This study used a web-based survey, in which 56 fourth and fifth grade general education teachers were randomly assigned to read one of two vignette conditions about a hypothetical student who displays behaviors associated with autism.   In one condition, teachers were told the student portrayed has an autism spectrum disorder. In the other, this information was not disclosed.  Teachers were then asked to answer questions related to how they would respond to student behaviors, their attitudes toward the student, and their feelings of self-efficacy as a teacher using the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk, 2001) to see how knowledge of the student’s autism diagnosis might impact teachers’ ratings.  A one-way analysis of variance was used to analyze differences in teachers’ ratings for those who received diagnostic disclosure, versus those who did not.

Results: Results indicated that there was a significant difference in the extent to which teachers reported that they would use positive behavioral approaches in response to the hypothetical student’s challenging behaviors in the ASD label versus no diagnostic label condition. Findings from this study also indicated that high ratings of teacher self-efficacy were positively correlated with use of reinforcement-based strategies to manage challenging behaviors, whereas high ratings of self-efficacy were negatively correlated with use of punishment-based strategies.

Conclusions: Discussion focuses on the relationship between general education teachers’ knowledge of a student’s diagnosis of ASD and their likelihood of using more positive teaching practices to manage student behaviors.  The relationship between teachers’ sense of self-efficacy and their use of positive versus punishment practices to address student behaviors are also addressed.  Additionally, the implications of study findings for students identified with ASD in general education settings, along with study limitations and directions for future research are highlighted.