'Teacher Instinct' Teachers' experiences of teaching children with Asperger Syndrome in a mainstream independent school
Beverley Winn
University of Wales Institute, Cardiff
Background: Little
research has examined the methods of teaching children with Asperger's syndrome (AS) in a mainstream setting (Davis & Florian, 2004) although some
argue that despite teachers being committed to the ideology of inclusive
education, they feel ill-equipped to provide the necessary teaching and support
for the AS child (Humphrey & Lewis, 2008; Emam & Farell, 2009).
Aim:To
explore teachers' experiences of teaching children with AS
in a mainstream independent school.
Design:A
qualitative study of five teachers with varying degrees of teaching experience.
Method:Semi-structured
interviews were conducted separately and interviews analysed using
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).
Results: Three super-ordinate themes with 11 sub-themes were identified: (1) Being
equipped to teach the AS child; (2) Challenges teaching the AS child; and (3)
Teaching styles and strategies.
Conclusions:
Results suggest that teachers often feel ill-equipped to teach
the AS child and are doing so by using teacher instinct
and limited resources.
