Screening Tool Facilitating Mainstream School Practitioners to Assess Educational Needs of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Bulgarian Case

Over the years, research has demonstrated that individuals with autistic spectrum disorders are a heterogeneous group. In recent years, the concept of inclusive education has provided additional insight into the possibilities of working with children with ASD in mainstream schools. The purpose of this study is to outline the specific strengths, capacities, and opportunities for supporting children and students with ASD in mainstream schools. The Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health for Children and Youth (ICF-CY) indicators were used as a basis and applied to different forms of ASD diagnosis, looking for more detailed individual profiles and common resources outlined despite the possible differences by gender, age, diagnoses, and according to specific difficulties and areas where children and students have difficulties. Sample comprised 201 children and students, aged 3-19 years. The results highlight the strengths and resources of a large number of the respondents with ASD, outlining their capacity in communication, language mastery and thinking. From one-fifth to more than half of the respondents do not encounter challenges when the environment and context are supportive. The reported results highlight the implications of the universal tool that teachers and educators have for thorough and in-depth outlining the personal development scope and areas. It can serve as a screening instrument in mainstream setting, alerting mainly teachers, but also families about the measures that address needs of children and students with ASD in view to facilitate personal growth.