The Professional Development Program for Teaching Teachers Based on Evidence-Based Practices for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review Study

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a lifelong developmental condition that is characterized by specific problems in social interaction and communication, the ability to think and flexible behavior, and perception and managing of sensory stimuli. Due to the presence of students with autism in public education schools, it is necessary to develop the teaching skills of teachers based on evidence-based methods. The present study aimed to perform a systematic review of the professional development program for teaching teachers based on evidence-based practices for students with ASD.

In this study, through systematic reviews and search for specialized keywords in Elsevier, Scopus, Google Scholar, ProQuest, Springer, and PubMed databases between 2000 and 2018, the findings and information needed to achieve the research goal was obtained. In the next step, all selected articles were reviewed by three research authors in EndNote software and duplicate articles were removed, and 217 published articles were considered base on the inclusion criteria and quality assessment using Cochrane risk of bias quality assessment. Then, based on the final qualitative evaluation, 14 articles were selected in English and reviewed in order to answer the research questions.

Among studies, education in behavioral context with nine studies (45 percent), communication context with seven studies (35 percent), social context with three studies (15 percent), education context with one study (5 percent), and transfer and play context without study, from most to least research to allocuted themselves; also, 25 percent of the studies used in behavioral interventions and positive behavioral-supportive strategies, 15 percent of the naturalistic intervention strategies, and discrete trial training and 10 percent pivotal response training and other strategies.

Based on the obtained results, it is suggested that professional development programs for educating teachers with students with ASD in Iran be mostly based on positive behavioral interventions and supportive strategies. As a result, educational programs should be presented in the form of individual and combined education.