Teacher education and educating children with autism : bridging the gap between theory and practice in Saudi Arabia

Abstract EN

In the past few decades the number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in Saudi Arabia and their educational provisions have been increased significantly.

However, although the majority of teachers within these programs have experienced pre-service preparation, it seems that a large scale of them have difficulty dealing with those children in practice.

Therefore, this study aimed to investigate this phenomenon in order to obtain deeper understanding about the extent of these programs to development the competence of teachers, which could contribute to raise the quality of the programs provided to children with autism.

Firstly, this qualitative research reviewed the literature regarding to teachers’ competence (attitude and capacity) and teachers’ education programs.

Then, this study collected the data through conducting five interviews; four current teachers and one university faculty member, followed by a thematic analysis process.

Two main themes, including Knowledge and Experience, and Content and Pedagogy, have been identified from the participants discourse.

Sequentially, interpretations of result have been done in relation to the research questions.

Consequently, recommendations regarding to the study limitations and for further studies were discussed.