JAASEP FALL 2025 Part 7 of 10
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Social skills training in early elementary classrooms has proven to be a critical intervention for children with ASD, particularly in Grades 1 through 3, when peer interaction and cooperative learning become central to academic and social development. Structured programs such as the skill streaming model and the Superheroes Social Skills program have demonstrated efficacy in teaching core skills like turn-taking, perspective-taking, and emotion recognition in naturalistic classroom settings (Bellini et al., Neurodiversity, covered the history of ASD, the historical development of the phenomena in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd, 4th, and 5th editions; American Psychiatric Association, 1980, 1994, 2013), and social stigma related to the disorder. Finally, 2007; Gresham et al., 2006). Teachers who embed social skills training into daily routines using visual support, roleplaying, and peer-mediated strategies contribute to ASD research includes teachers’ and neurotypical students’ social acceptance attitudes and their perceptions of inclusion practices for students with ASD, including the improved outcomes in both social reciprocity and behavior regulation (Rao et al., 2008). Additionally, early intervention need for on-going training (Derguy et al., 2021; Leifler et al., 2022).
Abstract
In the last 5 years, teachers have reported challenging experiences while educating young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as the diagnostic numbers have increased from one in 60 in 2019 to one in 33 in 2021, impacting the classroom ratios and social dynamics (Artigas-Pallarès & Paula, 2020; Maenner et al., 2020; Rosen et al., 2021). The increase in the prevalence of ASD diagnosis is impactful, specifically for teachers educating these students in the classroom. Educational psychology and ASD research highlights the issues students with ASD have during the school day, struggling with social skills, social communication, and social exchanges with their peers and teachers (Baron-Cohen, 1988, 2006, 2017; Silverman, 2015; Simó-Pinatella et al., 2021). This trend made a study regarding teachers’ lived experiences (i.e., social interactions) essential for informing professional development content for special education teachers working with students with ASD (Baron-Cohen, 1988, 2001, 2006, 2017; Josilowski, 2019; Silverman, 2015). This transcendental phenomenological study, using constructivist research questions, captured teachers’ lived experiences of social activities with students with ASD. Educational psychologists, educators, and professionals in the ASD field will benefit from better understanding of the lived experiences, specific knowledge about teacher-student social interactions to inform training practices, and detailed evidence to enhance professional development.