Effect of Special Education on Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Mental Retardation

Abstract

Autism is a neural disorder that confounds the development of brain, delivering challenging result in communication, social association, and problems associated with behavior. Since there is no cure for extreme autism, powerful instructive activities enable youngsters to accomplish massive change. Amid the educating and learning process, youngsters with autism require special care.The aim of present study is to survey the effect of special education on children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Mental Retardation (MR). The study tries to explore the relationship between behavioral change and parental qualification.Based on the previous research it was hypothesized that special education enhances the behavior of children with ASD and MR. A behavior record sheet was used to note down the behavior of children which records the baseline data and data for three more quarters (a quarter equals 3 months). The behaviors are marked according to their intensity. The results from t-test show the significant difference baseline (M=44.66, SD=11.30) and quarter 3 (M=35.58, SD=11.38); t(10)=7.82, p=0.001. These results show that special education does have an effect on behavior of children with ASD and MR. Specifically, our results suggest that with special education the problem behavior of children with ASD and MR do decrease.