Can I teach students with Autism Spectrum Disorder?: Investigating teacher self-efficacy with an emerging population of students.
The five-item TSEAS quickly spots teachers who doubt their autism skills so you can target BST where it helps most.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team built a short scale called TSEAS. It asks teachers how sure they feel about teaching kids with autism.
They ran a survey to check if the scale really measures one clear thing. They also looked at how teacher answers line up with job joy and self-control.
What they found
The five-minute TSEAS hangs together as one score. Higher scores go hand in hand with stronger general teaching confidence, happier teachers, and better self-regulation.
In plain words: when a teacher feels good about handling autism, they also feel good about the rest of their job.
How this fits with other research
Maciver et al. (2020) built the 11-minute School Participation Questionnaire. Both papers show you can give teachers a quick form and get solid data. TSEAS is even faster, so you can tack it on before a busy school day.
Adams et al. (2021) found that teacher certification area does not change student grades. That lines up with TSEAS: confidence, not the paper on the wall, links to better classroom vibes.
Mace et al. (1990) and later updates created the BSE family for rating student behaviors. TSEAS flips the lens to the teacher’s own mind. Use the two scales together: BSE tracks what the child does, TSEAS tracks how ready the adult feels.
Why it matters
Before you coach a teacher, give the TSEAS. A low score tells you where to boost confidence first. Pair those results with quick BST, then recheck the scale to see if the teacher’s belief—and the student’s day—gets better.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Currently, 1 in 68 children in the U.S. is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD; Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 2015) and this growing population of learners has been noted as one of the most challenging groups to teach. Teacher self-efficacy, the belief teachers hold about their instructional capabilities, has been shown to differ according to contextual factors, such as the type of students teachers face. The purpose of this investigation was to develop an instrument that can used to measure teachers' self-efficacy for effectively working with students with ASD. Study 1 involved the development and evaluation of a new instrument, the Teacher Self-Efficacy for Students with Autism Scale (TSEAS) with a sample of general and special education teachers in the U.S. (N = 120). Study 2 involved a cross-validation of the measure with teachers in Australia (N = 85). Results indicated that the scale represented a unidimensional construct in both studies. Self-efficacy for teaching students with ASD was distinct from, though positively related to, general teaching self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and self-regulation. Using a student-specific teaching self-efficacy measure might provide more useful information for supporting teachers' beliefs for teaching students with ASD.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2019 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2019.02.005