Effectiveness of Self Instructional Module on Knowledge of Autism among Pre School Teachers

Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and verbal and non-verbal communication, and by restricted, repetitive or stereotyped behavior

The study focused on the effectiveness of self Instructional Module on Autism among pre- School teachers with objectives to evaluate the effectiveness of self Instructional module with reference to the knowledge of autism among pre school teachers and to find the association between knowledge of preschool teacher and selected demographic variables.

Sample size was 30 Pre School teachers from Permanent Unaided School, MNC, Unaided School and Private aided school. Stratified random technique was used. The results were analyzed and interpreted using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Pre-test and post-test knowledge scores of the teachers were compared using paired t-test. T-value was 12.9 and corresponding p-value at 29 degrees of freedom was found to be 0.000. Since p-value is very small (less than 0.05), the null hypothesis is rejected. Average knowledge score in the pretest was 20.7 which changed to 38.4 after the use of self-instructional module. The self-instructional module has improved the knowledge of the teachers significantly.

Age has significant association with knowledge of teachers regarding autism.

Educational status, Years of teaching experience, whether the teacher come across the child with autism before does not have significant association with knowledge of teachers regarding autism.

The present study revealed the Pre school teachers had considerably poor knowledge regarding Autism. The self-instructional module on Autism has improved the knowledge of the teachers significantly.