Awareness, Knowledge, and Understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorders among Ohio Public School Principals

The rise in the number of students having an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has presented challenges for school principals in public schools. Principals need to understand the nature of ASD and the unique needs of these students. The purpose of this quantitative study was to evaluate levels of awareness, knowledge, and understanding of ASD among principals in the state of Ohio and determine what may account for differences. 180 public school principals including those serving elementary, middle, and high school age children completed a validated autism awareness survey. The scores derived served as the dependent variable. An accompanying demographic survey was also completed. The participants' years of experience, years as an educator, the type of school and any background experience in special education served as variables which were found to have no significant impact on their cognizance of ASD. Variables associated with training presented significant results. Principals reporting as having had professional development training in working with students with ASD had higher scores on the AAS t(176) = -2.14, p = .03, 95% CI = [-5.81, -0.24]. Findings demonstrated the importance of school districts providing training to their personnel who serve students with ASD as principals reporting employment in such districts were more cognizant of ASD t(178) = -2.08, p = .04, 95% CI = [-5.69, -0.14]. Findings also indicated the importance of the number of students with ASD encountered by a principal during their career as the relationship was significant rho = .28, p < .001. Principals reporting a greater number of educational supports provided for students with ASD and the relationship between their awareness, knowledge and understanding of ASD was significant rho = .22, p = .004. Findings will be of benefit in disseminating knowledge of the value of training for principals working with students with ASD, and the importance of greater opportunities for working with children with ASD. This study is a contribution to leadership research as well as ASD research. Recommendations for further research include studies of effective educational supports for students with ASD and evaluation studies of types of training provided to principals.