As far as I can say, most teacher training courses, if not all, include subjects on autism, learning difficulties etc. So, to an extent, all teachers are able to respond to this task. I believe that the confidence depends on each teachers' personality though....

As a pre-service teacher working on a M.Ed-Autism, I feel confident about meeting the needs of ASD children in the classroom. I attend Lesley University in Cambridge MA, where they have excellent programs relating to ASD. I completed a Grad. Certificate program first in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Allies and Advocates. This foundation walked me through the needs of the Autistic Community, by looking at Autism through the "lens" of Autistic people, by reading their stories, joining facebook pages, watching videos made by Autistic people who are adults now, they can share the inner perspective of what it was like to be a child in school with Autism. The program centers around strengths and abilities, rather than pre-conceived notions based on the "medical model" of ASD. They can relay the challenges based on lived experiences and share what supports they should have had while they were in school. They also address their atypical behaviors and why they have them and bridge understanding in how they are stigmatized and expected to change to appear "normal". By understanding the past treatments of Autistic people, we can change the future to meet the needs you younger children on all stages of the spectrum. Beyond that I have had Special Education classes, understanding of ABA, IDEA, IDEIA, 504, IEP and all types of Assessments. I have had courses the specifically train Inclusive Classroom Practices, Diversified learning, Differentiated Instruction, and Positive Behavior Intervention Supports and Services. I have learned about Transitioning to post secondary life, social skills interventions, and the need for services to support independent living and mental health support for autistic adults throughout duration of Lifespan. I have read probably close to 200 documented published Journal articles from a variety of research in Education and Psychology. I am also conducting my own Research for my Capstone Course which will resume in the Fall 2018. I will be conducting a study of high-school-aged students on the Spectrum to teach Self-Advocacy and enhanced Interpersonal skills and Soft Skills. I have learned methodologies that are evidence based practices that are based on current research studies as well as tried and true methods of (Vygotsky, 1978) Zone of Proximal Development, scaffolding, effective Teacher Modeling (Fisher, Frey, Lapp, 2009) Brain Research Teacher Modeling and Comprehension Instruction. I am confident and READY for whatever they classroom will bring me.

The issue is perhaps less autism than Inclusion and Differentiation generally. I would like to say that BEd programs in North America attempt to prepare pre-service teachers for these two objectives, but when you consider most programs are also reducing their duration and compressing content, we have to be realistic and say pre-service teachers are often not as prepared as they should be. Differentiation remains something a little conceptual and abstract for many; they are exposed to it in a textbook fashion but often fail to get to grips with the hands on strategies. They have little time to develop on terrain skills to achieve both Inclusion and Differentiation. Practicum placements sometimes remedy the issue through modelling, when the mentoring teacher has the skills. But it is still luck of the draw as many schools out there are still not implementing genuine inclusion or differentiation. The number of PD hours offered in-service is also shockingly low. We hence sadly see many in service teachers having little genuine and pragmatic understanding of both concepts until often they return to training for a Masters. The literature echoes the insecurity and fears of many early career teachers when it comes to Inclusion and Differentiation.

Charlotte and Frederic, thank you for your insights into this question. I greatly appreciate hearing your points of view. That series of studies you mentioned Charlotte, is very comprehensive. I do not know of any similar at the moment down here in Australia.

Thank You Rodney. I absolutely love the program I am taking and highly recommend it to Graduate students. You are correct though, when it comes to school districts implementing the Inclusion and Differentiation instruction. Our local school district has just recently switched to this format. They have cut out almost all self contained instruction. I am not employed by them but I have been doing my Observations and will do my Teacher Action Research study with them. This is the first year of Co-Teaching classrooms and they follow Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Special Education and Inclusion. This methodology promotes Inclusion and a UDL model for learning.

Charlotte, thanks for the document. I look forward to going through it.Your action research shall be interesting to follow. All the best with it.

Excellent document Charlotte! I can get assistance from this document during my adapted physical education class.

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I am looking to do a study into teacher training in the UK. How do teachers in mainstream and special schools about the level of training or support they have to teach students on the autism spectrum?