The opinions of the parents of children with autism about their children’s inclusion in mainstream preschool and school institutions - opportunities and challenges

The call for educational inclusiveness is becoming louder, more present and more and more necessary in the social context. In recent decades, education has been increasingly based on the paradigm of inclusion, which reflects its commitment to accepting diversity and meeting the needs of every child and student. Autism is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder that affects individuals during their entire life span. The most common signs by which it can be recognized are short-term and labile attention,
motor restlessness characterized by stereotyped movements: yawning, running in circles, repetition of the same words/syllables, absence or poorly developed speech and absence of eye contact. However, each person with this neurodevelopmental disorder is unique, with a wide range of abilities and challenges. Hence, the inclusion of children and youth in regular kindergartens and schools represents a complex process of building and developing a specific policy, culture and practice compatible with the spectrum of diversity embodied in each child/student. The paper presents results, obtained with the help of a semi-structured interview with 9 parents of children with autism (aged 4-15 years), regarding their experiences in the process of including children with autism in typical/regular preschools and elementary schools. The goal was to detect the difficulties/barriers they face during the education of their children, as well as to discover possible ways to overcome them. The research is based on the principles of the descriptive-analytical method and has a qualitative character. The obtained results reveal that parents and children have encountered and continue to face challenges stemming from institutional and social policies, physical conditions, inadequate technical and technological resources in kindergartens and schools negative attitudes towards children with autism from teachers, educators, parents of neuro-typical children, peers, and the broader community.