Students' Participation in General Education Classroom Activities

In contrast to most teacher-directed aspects of the class, such as materials used, field trips, and visits to a computer lab, the classroom participation of students with autism in general education academic classes differs from the participation of students in their class as a whole (figure 5). Teachers report that students with autism participate less actively than other students in their general education classes. For example, 48 percent of students with autism are reported by teachers to respond orally to questions "often," whereas 66 percent are in classes in which their classmates "often" respond orally to questions (p < .01). Almost one in five (18 percent) of students with autism are reported "rarely" or "never" to respond orally to questions, whereas only 1 percent are in classes in which their classmates are reported to respond orally to questions as infrequently (p < .01). Half of students with autism are reported "rarely" or "never" to present to the class, compared with about one-third (32 percent, p < .001) whose teachers report that classmates respond as infrequently, and 19 percent "rarely" or "never" work with a peer partner or group, compared with 5 percent whose classmates do so as infrequently (p < .001).