Browsing by Author "Immonen, Johanna"

The purpose of this study is to describe the methods available kindergarten teachers to deal with autism spectrum disorder in the everyday life within the kindergarten. The goal is also to examine what kind of a support group is around a child with the autism spectrum disorder and how does the support group function. The study also seeks to investigate from where have kindergarten teachers acquired the toolset they use to work with children with the autism spectrum disorder. The nature of the study is qualitative. To gather the study material a themed interview was conducted to create an environment that was close to a discussion environment. The sample was collected by interviewing two kindergarten teachers who had children with the spectrum of autism in their group. Content analysis was used to analyse the collected data. The kindergarten teachers thought that the basis to support a child with the spectrum of autism was good anticipation and planning. They also believed that it was important to construct a clear and calming environment. To support communication pictures and hand sings were used among other methods. One of the kindergarten teachers highlighted the importance of the development of social skills. Both kindergarten teachers described that their teams took turns in giving additional support to the children with the spectrum of autism during their day in the kindergarten. The study showed that in addition to the kindergarten teachers the support group supporting the child with the spectrum of autism included the parents of the child, a nurse, different therapists, a special care kindergarten teacher and the department of education, whose role became more significant as the children grew closer to the age when they were to begin school. In both cases, the child’s co-operation with the speech therapist was the second most frequent after spending time with their parents. Co-operation with the speech therapist was considered especially beneficial in both cases. The tools and work methods kindergarten teachers used to deal with the spectrum of autism were collected by additional training, by asking for guidance from more experienced or more specialized kindergarten teachers and by reading material provided by the kindergarten. A significant factor in defining the range of skills required to deal with the spectrum of autism were the individual needs of the child.