Teacher responses to anxiety-related behaviours in students on the autism spectrum

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2018.12.009Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Teachers report responding to anxiety differently when a student has autism.

  • Teachers report using more anxiety-promoting responses for students with autism.

  • Teachers are likely to use autonomy-promoting responses for both groups of students.

  • Teachers are more likely to encourage those without autism to face their fears.

  • Professional development for teachers is needed to increase knowledge about anxiety.

Abstract

Background

At least 50% of students on the autism spectrum experience clinical or subclinical levels of anxiety but there is scant research on how teachers respond to anxiety in children on the spectrum.

Aims

To compare teacher responses to anxiety-related behaviour in students who do and do not have a diagnosis on the spectrum using the Teacher Responses to Anxiety in Children (TRAC).

Methods and procedures

Teachers (N = 64), predominantly from mainstream primary schools, completed an online survey comprised of a demographic questionnaire and two versions of the TRAC, one for students without autism and one for students with autism.

Outcomes and results

Teachers report differences in the way they would likely respond to anxiety-related behaviours observed in students with and without autism. Teachers reported being more likely to use anxiety-promoting responses for students with autism who are showing behaviours indicative of general and separation anxiety, but not when they are showing behaviours indicative of social anxiety. Whilst there was no significant difference in the overall likelihood of use of autonomy-promoting responses between groups, there were differences in the likelihood of using specific autonomy-promoting responses dependent upon diagnosis and type of anxiety.

Conclusions and implications

Teachers report they are likely to respond differently to anxiety-related behaviours of students on the autism spectrum but the impact of this on the behaviour of these students is yet to be determined. Professional development is a priority to increase teacher knowledge about anxiety-related behaviours in students with autism and the ways in which teachers’ responses may promote or reduce anxiety and autonomy.

Section snippets

What this paper adds?

There has been a dearth of research into the presentation and impact of anxiety in autism within the school context and little is known about teacher response to anxiety-related behaviour in this population. This study adds to our knowledge of how teachers are likely to respond to anxiety-related behaviour in students with autism and whether this differs from their responses to students without an autism diagnosis. Teachers were found to be significantly more likely to use responses categorised

Methods

Ethical clearance for this study was granted through the Griffith University Human Research Ethics Committee, approval number 2017/958.

Anxiety-promoting subscale

Teacher ratings of the likelihood of responding to the students with or without autism with specific responses are summarised in Table 2 (a higher score reflects an increased likelihood of responding with that specific response with a maximum score of 7 representing “very likely”). Comparisons of the anxiety subscale scores indicate that teachers were significantly more likely to respond with anxiety-promoting responses to a student with a diagnosis of autism than a student without a diagnosis

Discussion

This is the first study to explore teacher responses to anxiety-related behaviours in students with autism and compare how these may differ from responses to students without a diagnosis of autism. The findings from this study clearly show that teachers are, in many ways, likely to respond to anxiety differently when a student has a diagnosis of autism compared to students without autism. One of the principal areas of difference was the greater likelihood that teachers would use

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgement

The authors acknowledge the financial support of an internal Griffith University School of Education and Professional Studies Seeding Grant.

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