Integrated schools better for children with autism
Children with autism educated at mainstream schools have reduced autism levels and a better quality of life as adults, according to a University of Queensland study.
For her PhD thesis with the Fred and Eleanor Schonell Special Research Centre, Dr Jillian Taylor examined the school, medical and parental records of 60 adolescents and adults with autism aged between 16 and 38.
Supervised by Graduate School of Education Professor John Elkins, her study is believed to be the first Australian investigation of the long-term outcome for people with autism.
In the retrospective study, she compared the level of autism in the adults with the levels they experienced as children and identified factors which contributed to the differences between the two over time.
Autism affects 4.5 people in every 10,000 causing a communication impairment. This impairment, coupled with the fact that 75 percent of people with autism also had an intellectual disability, make it difficult for them to understand complex social situations, Dr Taylor said.
Autism is a neurological condition thought to have some genetic basis and affects four boys to every one girl. One in 10 people with autism are known as autistic savants as they possess at least one skill they can do better than people without autism. For example, some autistic savants can play a song on a musical instrument after hearing it sung only once.
Dr Taylor, a part-time lecturer at the Centre, used a standard rating scale for autism to determine whether the people's autism levels had improved, stayed the same or worsened from childhood levels. Their intelligence, language, academic and behavioural levels were also evaluated.
She also examined the people's quality of life including whether they were living independently, were in a relationship, working and/or engaged in activities outside the home.
She found that irrespective of their childhood autism levels, people who went to mainstream schools (for children without disabilities) showed low levels of autism and had a good skill base and quality of life in adulthood. People who went to autistic specialist schools showed high levels of autism and had a poor or very poor skill base and quality of life in adulthood.
She said her study indicated that people with autism, like other people with disabilities, needed as normal a learning environment as possible to reach their maximum potential.
"Denying opportunities to increase an individual's potential becomes an issue of social justice and discrimination," Dr Taylor said.
She said children with autism required teacher's aides in integrated classrooms to help them learn.
"In this way, the child receives one-to-one attention, the class teacher is not over-burdened and other children are exposed to a child with a disability. This helps to break down any prejudices in the long term," Dr Taylor said.
For more information, contact Dr Taylor (telephone 07 3282 7459).
