Assessment of Public Special Education Teachers Training Needs on Evidence-Based Practice for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Spain.
Aitor LarraceletaLuis CastejónMaría-Teresa Iglesias-GarcíaJosé Carlos NúñezPublished in: Children (Basel, Switzerland) (2022)
Over decades, the concern for the quality of psychoeducational practices for students with autism spectrum disorders has led to study to what extent are evidence-based educational methods disseminated among teachers. The purpose of this cross-sectional study, taking as reference Hsiao and Sorensen's previous research, was to identify through a survey to what extent social-communication evidence-based practices for these students were provided in teacher education and in-service training programs, in a sample of 108 special education teachers from Spain, and to compare these results with Hsiao and Sorensen's. Overall, more than 70% of the teachers reported that evidence-based practices in their teacher education programs (87.6%) and in-service training programs (73.6%) were never taught or mentioned incidentally . Finally, a higher percentage of addressing on each practice (i.e., mentioned and discussed or mentioned and taught through direct instruction ) is shown in the sample of American teachers compared to the Spaniards, in both training paths.