Teacher’s knowledge of and attitude towards Autism spectrum disorder among primary school children in Ilorin Metropolis
Olubukola Christianah Dada (Ph.D.) & Oluwabunmi Aderonke Sangobiyi
Department of special Education
College of Education
kwara state university, Nigeria
olubukola.dada@kwasu.edu.ng
bukkyemmi@yahoo.com.
Boom2014@gmail.com.
Abstract
Observation has shown that many people around autistic spectrum disorder student have difficulties understanding them, thus they face challenges in expressing their emotions and understanding the emotions of other people. It is also perceived that primary school teachers whether in regular or special schools, in Ilorin metropolis have little or no knowledge about the existence and prevalence of this disorder among primary school students. Thus, this study aimed at examining the knowledge in attitude of primary school teachers towards autism spectrum disorder among students. This is with the view of accommodating managing and caring for this set of students when they find them in their class room. The descriptive research method was used. A twenty-item questionnaire was designed by the researchers to elicit response from one hundred and twenty randomly selected teachers. Three research questions were generated for the study. Mean and standard deviation was used t analyze the data collected. The study revealed that teachers have different levels of knowledge on autism and they also have various attitudes towards autism spectrum disorder. Based on that findings of this study, it was recommended that teachers should be trained on autism spectrum disorder. Awareness and sensitization programs need to be carried out among teachers.
KEYWORD: autism spectrum disorder, student, knowledge, attitude and teachers.
