According to the Brazilian Ministry of Education policies, individuals with disabilities and special educational needs must attend regular classes aiming to include them in the education system. Therefore, it is extremely important to ensure that teachers are capable of answering to the demands of their students regarding their learning processes. This study is part of a larger project the purpose of which is to use distance education resources as strategies aiming to provide information to early childhood education teachers in order to support the inclusion of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in regular education. This survey was conducted with 38 early childhood education teachers from public municipal schools in Bauru, and it consisted of applying a questionnaire and analyzing the answers in order to verify the teachers' experience and knowledge in relation to ASD and their perceived need of information addressing the subject. Based on information from the questionnaires, program content was organized to prepare groundwork for disseminating information in a course to be developed at a later date. The results showed that educational inclusion is a growing process, however teachers feel they lack information. With the study, greater integration between speech-language-pathologists and educational professionals was achieved, supporting the need to develop a course to disseminate information to teachers, in order to provide for proper inclusion of students with ASD in regular education.
Especial Education; Autistic Spectrum Disorder; Language; Early Childhood Education
