Teachers' Perceptions of the Home-School Collaboration: Enhancing Learning for Children with Autism

This study aimed to explore the relationship between teachers and students' families and address the deficiencies in the body of research regarding the performance gap between children with autism and their age-equivalent peers. The research question was: How do teachers of children with autism perceive the home-school collaboration and its impact on learning? Ten state-certified special educators with at least 3 years' experience teaching children with autism, and experience collaborating with their students' families participated in face-to-face interviews, answering 8 open-ended questions in this generic qualitative study. Inductive thematic analysis yielded 6 themes: (a) collaboration improves learning, (b) communication is vital, (c) collaboration supports overall student improvement, (d) challenges impact collaboration, (e) parental involvement is imperative, and (f) teachers find ways to promote parental engagement. A strong home-school connection improved students' ability to grasp material in the classroom, decreased the children's anxiety and enhanced their sense of security; also, involved parents reinforced the learning process at home. Recommendations for future research include studying a larger sample to increase generalizability and covering a larger geographic area for better representation of the population.