Understanding the Educational Landscape of Children with Autism in Bangladesh

Early childhood education and teachers providing them play an imperative role in the development of children with autism, which motivated us to examine the current educational practices, teachers’ experiences, needs, and expectations in Bangladesh. Findings from our qualitative study with teachers (N = 20) from four schools specializing in autism reveal that despite not having the required training for these kids they join the profession and even after getting a meager salary they continue to teach them. We also found that their relationship with the parents is complex, resulting from lack of effective communication about student progress. We propose a set of guidelines to design ICT tools which are a first step in addressing how to improve the educational experience of the teachers and their students by leveraging existing ICT tools. We believe our findings will open avenues for future researchers and guide them in envisioning robust technology to aid the existing educational process.