M.A. (Counselling Psychology) / Mothers’ experiences of raising a child who has been diagnosed with autistic disorder or autism spectrum disorder are multifaceted and multidimensional. These experiences include both negative and positive aspects which at times occur simultaneously. The aim of this research was to explore three mothers’ lived experiences of raising a child who has been diagnosed with autistic disorder. This entailed their experiences prior to receiving a diagnosis of autistic disorder for their child to their present circumstances. A hermeneutic epistemological framework, which falls in the qualitative research approach, was used. Data were collected in the form of three written narratives and three interviews which were analysed using a hermeneutic epistemological framework and thematic analysis. The analysis of the data resulted in the identification of five metathemes: the journey towards a label, challenges, attempting to be a good enough mother, coping, and personal growth. The most prominent metatheme is the three mothers’ attempts to be a good enough mother to their child with autistic disorder. Furthermore, the metathemes seem to confirm that mothers’ experiences are multidimensional and multifaceted.

A growing body of research supports the suggestion that the relationships which children form with their teachers and classmates have an impact on learning (Roorda, Koomen, Spilt, & Oort, 2011). Largely built on studies with typically developing children, the current understanding of the relationship-learning association is that these relationships can impact upon learning either by directly improving the quality of pedagogy or through mediating factors such as increased pupil motivation (Martin & Dowson, 2009).The aim of this study was to expand the discussion and evidence base surrounding relationship-learning association to include pupils with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties (BESD). Previously these groups were not directly addressed by this literature, yet there is evidence from both government-compiled (Department for Education, 2011d) national statistics and independent research (e.g. Symes & Humphrey, 2010) that these groups are at risk of poor academic and social outcomes. While classroom relationships might be an ingredient of superior teaching of children with special educational needs (Dyson, Farrell, Polat, Hutcheson, & Gallanaugh, 2004), it was hypothesised that difficulties commonly associated with either or both of these groups, such as communication problems (Cashin, 2005; Lindsay, Dockrell, & Strand, 2007) may serve to influence the nature and salience of the relationship-learning association.The study used a mixed methods design, incorporating a multiple regression analysis to determine whether changes in teacher or peer relationship quality over 18 months predicted attainment relative to other plausible predictors at the end of that period (N= ASD:143 BESD: 648) and an embedded, multiple case study (Yin, 2011) analysis around two children from each group to determine how the facets of their individual educational needs and other contextual factors influenced the importance and nature of the relationship-learning association in their education. Multiple regression models indicated that relationship change was not a statistically significant predictor of attainment other than peer relationship change for pupils with BESD, where the effect size implies that some academic benefits may accrue at group level from successful relationship interventions. Case study analysis suggested that many of the factors reducing the likelihood of relationships directly improving attainment also make them more important to the effectiveness of teaching and the classroom functioning of pupils. Implications and directions for future research are also discussed.

Des troubles moteurs ont été décrits dans les Troubles du Spectre Autistiques (TSA), toutefois tous les enfants atteints de TSA ne montrent pas de diminution des performances motrices. La nature et l'origine des perturbations motrices dans les TSA ne sont pas claires. Les processus neuro-développementaux, en lien avec la maturation du système nerveux central, sont peu explorés dans les TSA, or ces processus sous-tendent les performances motrices. Peu d'études portent sur l'analyse fine de la sémiologie des fonctions neuro-psychomotrices dans les TSA et l'existence d'une trajectoire neuro-développementale de ces fonctions n'est pas connue chez les enfants avec TSA. L'objectif de cette étude est de mettre en évidence la sémiologie des troubles psychomoteurs auprès d'enfants avec TSA, à l'aide d'une batterie standardisée Française d'évaluation développementale des fonctions neuro-psychomotrices de l'enfant (NP-MOT) (Vaivre-Douret, 2006). L'évaluation neuro-psychomotrice complète les évaluations de premières instances (psychiatrique; psychologique; compréhension; psychomotrice). L'identification d'un profil clinique neuro-psychomoteur, l'identification de troubles ou décalages par rapport à une norme de référence, la mise en évidence de fonctions cérébrales éventuellement touchées dans les TSA devraient permettre de mieux comprendre l'origine et la nature des troubles observés dans les TSA. Les résultats de plus en plus nombreux concernant la motricité chez ces enfants doivent pouvoir également être analysés au regard des évaluations cognitives et neuro-cognitives, afin d'affiner le profil de développement et permettre ainsi de mieux comprendre la nature des troubles autistiques parmi une comorbidité d'éventuels autres dysfonctionnements. / Motor disorders have been described in the Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD), however all children with ASD show no decrease in motor performances. The nature and origin of motor disturbances in ASD are unclear. Neurodevelopmental processes linked to the maturation of the central nervous system, are not really explored in ASD, but these processes underlie motor performances. Few studies trat of an acute semiology of motor abnormalities in ASD and the existence of a neuro-developmental trajectory of neuro-psychomotor functions is not known in children with ASD. The aim of this study is to highlight the semiology of psychomotor disorders among children with ASD, using a French standardized neurodevelopmental assessment tool (NP-MOT) (Vaivre-Douret, 2006). Evaluations of the first instances (psychiatric; psychological; understanding; psychomotor) were supplemented by a standardized assessment battery of neuro-developmental psychomotor functions (NP-MOT). The identification of a neuro-psychomotor clinical profile, identification of problems or discrepancies compared to a standard reference, the identification of potentially affected brain functions in ASD should provide a better understanding of the origin and nature the observed disorders in ASD. The results, more and more numerous concerning motor skills in these children, should be able to be analyzed in light of cognitive or neuro-cognitive assessments and should allow to refine the profile of development and thereby enable a better understanding of the nature of autism among a comorbidity other possible malfunctions.

Several studies show that physical activity has positive effects for children with autism. Therefore, I chose to investigate the form of adaptions student in autism spectrum in the subject of sports and health and what conditions the physical education teachers have to create a favorable environment for student with autism. Through a qualitative research method with teachers in physical education and health, the material has been collected with semi structured interviews. The results show how teachers adapt teaching to student with autism spectrumdisorders. Physical education and health teachers work in different ways. The adaption can consist of preparation, the student’s special interests, structure, participation/involvement, andclarity in the teaching. Based on the discussion, all students are different and the teachers need to adapt the student’s needs. / Flertal studier visar att fysisk aktivitet har positiva effekter för barn med autism. Därför valde jag att undersöka vilken form av anpassningar elever inom autismspektrumet i ämnet idrott och hälsa och vilka förutsättningar idrottslärarna har för att skapa en gynnsam miljö för elever med autism. Genom en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med lärare inom idrott och hälsa har materialet samlats in via semistrukturerade intervjuer. I resultatet framkommer det hur lärarna anpassar undervisningen till elever med autismspektra. Idrott och hälsa lärarna arbetar på olika sätt för att anpassa undervisningen. Anpassningen kan bestå av förberedelser, elevensspecialintressen, struktur, delaktighet/involvering samt tydlighet i undervisningen. Utifrån diskussionen är alla elever olika och lärarna behöver anpassa elevens behov.

The differential outcomes effect (DOE) refers to an observed increase in rates of acquisition of simple or conditional relations when the contingencies of reinforcement arrange for reinforcers to be uniquely correlated with a particular stimulus or response relative to conditions where the reinforcers are not uniquely correlated with either stimulus or response. This effect has been robustly documented in the literature with nonhuman subjects. This study asked whether the DOE would be observed with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) learning audio-visual conditional relations. Two participants learned two sets of 3 audio-visual conditional relations. For one set, the training conditions arranged for each of the three conditional relations to be uniquely correlated with a particular reinforcing stimulus (the DO condition). For the second set, the training conditions arranged for the same reinforcer to be used for all three audio-visual conditional relations (the NDO condition). Early results show that audio-visual conditional relations were acquired faster under the DO condition relative to the NDO outcomes condition (accuracy in DO condition was 30.8% higher on average than in NDO condition). These data suggest that differential outcomes should be more thoroughly investigated with children with diagnoses of ASD.

Regular education teachers' self-efficacy may be negatively impacted due to a lack of professional development and experience teaching students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Research links teacher self-efficacy with increased student academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to examine to what degree training on ASD during and following teacher certification and experience had on overall teacher self-efficacy. This one-shot case study was based upon Bandura's theoretical construct of self-efficacy and secondarily on Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy, and Hoy's theory of self-efficacy. The Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scales (TSES) was used to collect data from regular education teachers with experience teaching students with ASD in 1st through 3rd grades in a Southern California school district. After the data were assessed for accuracy, missing data, and outliers, the analysis was conducted on 36 cases. MANOVAs were conducted to assess differences on overall self-efficacy. Separate ANOVAs were used since the overall self-efficacy and the subscores were highly correlated. Though the sample in this study was small (n = 36) for data analysis, the effect size showed that training experience and grade levels had a moderate to large effect on teacher self-efficacy (.16, .13, .13 respectively). Therefore teacher self-efficacy has a positive impact on student achievement. Implications for positive social change are self-efficacious teachers increase the academic achievement of students with ASD. In this way, such students can become self-sustaining, dynamic members of the work force and community.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by deficits in the areas of communication and social interaction, stereotypic behaviour and changes in the sensory processing. These symptoms pose challenges to everyday situations such as visits to the doctor's office, which are more stressful for children with ASD and their parents than for the general population. Furthermore, more than one-third of parents have encountered refusal to provide medical care for their child because of ASD. In our diploma project, we combined the parent's reports with an analysis of international sources to create a project called AutFriendly which aims to increase the knowledge of the Czech healthcare practitioners about ASD. In the presented thesis, we summarize the theoretical background in the field of healthcare provision for people with ASD and we review current Czech and international literature to show how the topic of ASD is addressed in the education of healthcare practitioners. In the practical part of the thesis, we summarize our two-year experience with the AutFriendly project. First, we created a two- hour AutFriendly workshop for the students of secondary schools of nursing and we put it into practice with more than 250 participating students of the Czech secondary schools of nursing. Second, we...

The presented masters thesis deals with selected educational approaches that are used in preschool children with autism spectrum disorder. The theoretical part defines the broad concept of autism, the role of preschool education, and describes methods of work with autistic children of the given age. It also explains the basic characteristics of the Son-Rise program, Applied Behavioral Analysis and TEACCH. In the empiric part within the qualitative research survey, the thesis aims to obtain an overview of the views of teachers focused on the advantages and disadvantages of selected methods. KEYWORDS autism spectrum disorders, TEACCH, Son-Rise program, applied behavior analysis, educational approaches, autism, preschool education

The topic of this work is "Social inclusion and employment of adults with Asperger syndrome". The thesis aims to present the specifics of social inclusion and employment of adults with Asperger syndrome. In the theoretical part of the work, a reader is acquainted with the term Asperger syndrome, with the development of expert terminology, symptoms, diagnosis and prevalence. Then a reader is acquainted with the social position of adults with this syndrome, specifically with a person with Asperger syndrome in the role of a friend, a partner and a parent. Subsequently, the work deals with the employment of adults with Asperger syndrome. The theoretical part describes training and positive work characteristics of these people, but also difficulties that these people may have in the work process. The conclusion of the theoretical part outlines supported employment of the people with Asperger syndrome, sheltered workshops and occupational rehabilitation. The practical part of this work contains an interpretation of the quantitative research, which was conducted by means of an online questionnaire survey. The research has shown that people with Asperger's syndrome have had difficulty in finding employment in most cases. The vast majority of people with Asperger's syndrome live in a partnership and almost...

The token economy is a widely used and versatile motivational system within applied behavior analysis. Moreover, token reinforcement procedures have been shown to be highly effective in the treatment of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In the experimental analysis of behavior, token reinforcement contingencies are conceptualized as three interconnected schedule components: (1) the token-production schedule, (2) the exchange-production schedule, and (3) the token-exchange schedule. Basic work with nonhuman subjects has demonstrated that the exchange-production schedule is the primary driver of performance in these arrangements, and that variable-ratio exchange-production results in reduced pre-ratio pausing and greater overall rates of responding relative to fixed-ratio exchange-production schedules. However, little applied research has been conducted to assess the generality of these findings within applied settings. The purpose of this study was to determine if fixed- and variable-ratio token exchange-production schedules would exert differential effects on pre-ratio pausing and overall rates of responding for three children with ASD during a free-operant sorting task. The results showed that pre-ratio pausing and overall rates of responding were not differentially effected by the fixed- and variable-ratio exchange-production schedules. Discrepancies between the experimental work and the current study are discussed along with additional limitations.