Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

1412

Date

2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Instr and Curr Leadership

Concentration

Special Education

Committee Chair

Robert Williamson

Committee Member

Laura Casey

Committee Member

William Hunter

Committee Member

Jeremy Todd Whitney

Abstract

Including students with a range of abilities in today's classrooms paired with increasing inclusive practices has presented itself as a challenge for all educators. More specifically, students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have had an increased presence in general education settings. This study aimed to discover pre-service teachers' perceptions toward including students with ASD in a general education setting, examine pre-service teacher knowledge regarding ASD, and examine if any correlation between the two may exist. The main research instrument consisted of a set of 1) demographic questions (categorical data), 2) perceptions of inclusion of students with ASD measured in a Likert-scale component, and 3) measuring knowledge of students with ASD (scaled score) component. Correlation results were analyzed using Pearson's r coefficient calculation and indicated a positive correlation between perspective and knowledge. Results supported prior research and indicated that the pre-service teachers possessed positive perceptions toward including students with ASD, but felt slightly different when including students with any range of abilities. In regards to participant knowledge of ASD, results indicated that pre-service teachers were knowledgeable about topics surrounding ASD.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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