Autismvänliga miljöer i förskolan : En enkätstuide om autismvänliga miljöer i förskolan

Sammanfattning: The following study focuses on autism-friendly learning environments designed in preschool. The aim of this study is to find out if the knowledge and experience of the teachers in Swedish preschools is sufficient to design adapted in-house environments for children with autism spectrum conditions. Furthermore, we want to study what special educational perspectives are expressed in educators' descriptions of autism spectrum conditions and autism-friendly learning environments. To answer the purpose, three special educational perspectives; the compensatory perspective, the critical perspective and the dilemma perspective have been used.As a method for data collection, an internet-based survey was used. A total of 71 responses to the survey were received and these responses were analyzed through a content analysis and univariate analysis. The results of the study indicate that the respondents have knowledge and experience in how they can create autism-friendly learning environments. Many respondents express organizational limitations as the reason when they cannot implement appropriate adaptations in the learning environments. Examples of organizational factors are financial obstacles, staff shortages and lack of materials. Many respondents express a self-confidence that they possess knowledge but at the same time say they want more knowledge. When identifying actual knowledge, it turns out that great importance is placed on concepts such as stripped-down environments, clarifying pedagogy and cooperation between different professions. All three special education perspectives could be identified in the respondents’ answers.