Review of Teacher Involvement in the Applied Intervention Research for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

This review examined the involvement of teachers in the intervention research for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) from 1996 through February 2008. Forty-nine studies involving teachers of children with ASD were coded for different types of involvement. Findings are discussed in regards to three issues: (a) the manner in which teachers have been involved in autism research, (b) how teachers were trained to implement research based practices, and (c) teachers ' perceptions of interventions (i.e. social validity). Results showed that teachers have been included in a variety of meaningful ways in recent research. However, our review also highlights the need for additional research regarding teachers' perceptions and training teachers to effectively implement research-based interventions.