A study exploring the autism awareness of students attending the department of pre-school teacher education of a public University in Istanbul, Turkey

Year 2020, , 90 - 96, 31.05.2020

Seyhan Hıdıroglu Nimet Emel Lulecı Melda Karavus Seyma Gorcın Karaketır Ahmet Karavus

https://doi.org/10.5472/marumj.741719

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Objectives: Early detection of autism might largely depend on pre-school teachers’ awareness and their prompt referral of these
children to health authorities for accurate diagnosis. The purpose of our study was to assess the awareness about childhood autism
among students attending the Department of Pre-school Teacher Education of a public university.
Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was carried out on 181 out of 218 students.
Results: The best known characteristic of a child having autism was ‘‘having a hard time in social relations’’ (90.1%). The majority
(85.6%) of the study group believed that autism was curable and thought that a child having autism could pursue a family life in the
future with his/her spouse (51.3%). Around 60.7% of all participants were of the opinion that a child with autism cannot participate
in conversations.
Conclusion: The idea of a child with autism disturbing the teaching environment (50.8%) exists which might be a very important
obstacle for his/her education; thus interfering with his/her treatment. Autism awareness of respondents could be considered to be
relatively good among the senior students.

Keywords

Autism, Awareness, Pre-school Teaching, University Students

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