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The Impact of Learning Support Assistants on Level one Autistic students’ Social and Academic Development in Mainstream Secondary
Social and academic independence for level-one autistic students in the mainstream secondary is a foremost concern for every parent, caregiver, or inclusion team; helping this group of special needs students to achieve academic and social independence is the dream of all parties involved with inclusive learning in the United Arab Emirates.
This research studied how Learning Support Assistants could improve their strategic support to ensure autistic students gain total independence before leaving high school. Using a purposive heterogeneous sampling technique, 12 participants responded to seven open-ended questions to form the data for analysis. I analyzed the data based on qualitative coding and thematic analysis methods. The research results indicate that some level-one autistic students habitually see their learning support assistants as a replacement for their parents once in school; they feel comfortable and relaxed once those adults are around them during lessons or other social activities. These students also rely on the support staff to move between classes during school hours; this attitude made many of them dependent socially and academically; it further suggests some of these students sadly hate adults following and sitting by them in mainstream classrooms.
Howbeit, for these students to achieve social and academic independence, the findings recommended that Learning Support Assistants should not regularly sit by the students during lessons, they should not write notes or take any test for them. The study also suggests that LSAs should allow level-one autistic students to freely interact with other students in or outside of the classroom, and finally, they should not overly protect this group of students in the class or outside of the classroom.
Oliver Wesseh European International University-Paris EDUC580: Educational Research: