Published Paper Details:

Inclusive education of children with intellectual disability is a serious challenge for any community. One such group is that of learners with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). This study investigates the challenges in teaching English Language to children with ASD who are enrolled in various academic intervention programmes with focus on existing institutional remedies/education system, language used in therapy and collaboration of ESL teachers with special need educators. This study will show/reveal how well equipped the present local educational machinery is in providing language intervention to the target group. It is a qualitative study based on questionnaires and semi-structured interviews of n=31 participants including 10 ESL teachers, 10 Special needs teachers, 5 Speech therapists (all having more than 5 years of experience) along with 5 parents of learners with ASD and 1 Education officer. The study reveals that there is a serious lack of coordination among the various professionals engaged in the intervention process. Lack of training and instructional materials is another major concern besides lack of qualified personnel at intervention centres. In addition, mainstreaming of learners with ASD was very rare, and those who could get through have to face challenges related to rigid syllabus and untrained general educators. Involvement of parents emerged as one of the major challenge in ensuring efficient intervention programmes as most of the parents lacked the cooperation sought by the educators. Lack of professional training institutes has led to poor professional quality of intervention facilities and more so after mainstreaming. District authority need to support the NGOs through funding for infrastructural up gradation and training to provide better learning environment for the learners on the spectrum.