Related Data for: Pre-school teachers’ perceptions of challenging behaviours of students with autism spectrum disorder within inclusive settings

Purpose Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have challenging behaviours that can create significant teaching challenges in group settings such as in mainstream pre-school inclusive settings. This study aims to identify and understand, from the perspectives of mainstream pre-school teachers in Singapore, the type of common challenging behaviours observed in pre-schoolers (mean age = 4.5 years, SD = 1.1, range = 3-6) with ASD. Design/methodology/approach Participants consisted of 62 teachers (mean age = 35.8 years; SD = 10.8) teaching in mainstream pre-school centres located in Singapore completed an open-ended survey. Twelve codes were generated and served as guidelines for coding the qualitative data. Codes with similar themes were then grouped to form four construct categories: social communication, restricted and repetitive behaviours, attention and learning and others. Findings Results indicated that difficulty with change/transition and social/peer interaction were the most concerning issues across all settings, whereas “lesson time” and “circle time” were the two most common activities/settings in which the concerns were reported by teachers. Originality/value Findings from this paper may add to the limited research looking at the challenging behaviours exhibited by children with ASD in mainstream pre-school settings in Singapore. Understanding the type of challenging behaviours presented in pre-schoolers with ASD and the activities/settings in which these behaviours occur may help the teachers to link the difficulties to specific interventions to further support their inclusion in a mainstream pre-school setting.

研究目的：自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童常表现出具有挑战性的行为，这在主流学前融合教育环境等集体场景中会带来显著的教学难题。本研究旨在从新加坡主流学前教师的视角出发，识别并了解学龄前自闭症谱系障碍儿童（平均年龄4.5岁，标准差为1.1，年龄范围3至6岁）所表现出的常见挑战性行为类型。
研究设计与方法：本研究的参与者为62名任职于新加坡主流学前机构的教师（平均年龄35.8岁，标准差为10.8），他们完成了一项开放式调查问卷。研究共生成12个编码，作为定性数据编码的指导框架；随后将主题相近的编码归类为四大构念类别：社交沟通、受限与重复性行为、注意力与学习，以及其他类别。
研究结果：结果显示，应对变化/过渡困难以及社交/同伴互动障碍是所有场景中最受关注的问题；而"授课时段"与"圆圈时间（circle time）"是教师报告此类问题时最常提及的两类活动/场景。
研究创新性与价值：本研究的发现可丰富新加坡地区针对主流学前环境中自闭症谱系障碍儿童挑战性行为的有限研究成果。明晰学龄前自闭症谱系障碍儿童的挑战性行为类型及其发生的活动与场景，有助于教师将这些困难与针对性干预措施相结合，进一步支持自闭症儿童融入主流学前教育环境。