The Information and Attitude Levels of the Educational Psychologists and Special Education Teachers in the Process of Sex Education for the Adolescents with Autism

The development of humanbeing is a life-long process. The education need of the individuals in this process proves to be indispensable in all areas and sex education is an integral part of this education need. A normal child can receive information from a conversation with family or friends, through media or by having a sexual experience, discussing or reading. Whereas, an autistic child is not only deprived of that but also he is kept under more pressure and control on this subject because of the ignorance and concerns of his environment. Such an approach restricts autistic individuals and as a result they may show violent behaviour. In this context, the information levels of the special education teachers and educational psychologists regarding the individuals with autism and sex education to be given to these individuals is meaningful and important as they are the first related persons in their immediate circles. It is observed that depending on the Turkish culture in the northern part of the Cyprus even the sex education for the normal children is indisputable and mistakes are made, the special education teachers and educational psychologists who are most related to the sex education process of the individuals with autism lack information and have negative attitudes and make mistakes as a result. The purpose of this study is to identify the problems of the sex education that is to be delivered to the autistic individuals and what the educational psychologists and special education teachers should know regarding the needs of the families in order to guide them properly. A qualitative research model was used in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data in this study. The reason of the use of qualitative research model is to collect detailed and profound data, learn the experiences and point of views of the participants directly and understand and explain the present situations. The method of this study is a qualitative research model intended to examine the problems in the sex education of the individuals with adolescent autism. Data collected from the interviews with special education teachers and educational psychologists during which semi structured interview type was used. Before the interview form, which was developed in the light of the suggestions from experts was used for the purpose of data-collection, it had been tested on 3 educational psychologists and 3 special education teachers and the interview form was finalized in accordance with their responses and replies. This study is carried out with families with a view to detect and solve the problems that the educational psychologists and special education teachers with autistic children face regarding sex education of their students in terms of their knowledge, equipment and lives. Data in the study were acquired by means of interview with families the scope of the study consists of the families with autistic children in Cyprus in 2009. Among purposive sample methods, criterion sample was selected and random samples were drawn from the educational psychologists and special education teachers who meet the criterion. The basic point of this sampling method is to work with the persons selected randomly who meet certain pre-set criteria. In other words, the sample of the study consists of 30 educational psychologists and 30 special education teachers drawn randomly from the educational psychologists and special education teachers in Cyprus. This study explored the relationship between 1 (a) educational psychologists, 1 (b) special education teachers with the Scale Information and Attitude Levels of the Educational Psychologists and Special education teachers in the Sex Education Process to be Delivered to the Adolescents with Autism (Dr. Bekirogullari 2009). We may say that the specified issue is described by the female educational psychologists as communication problems, by male educational psychologists as mental retardation and the female special education teachers consider it as development disorder and different behaviours and male special education teachers as failure in social communication and development disorder. While male and female educational psychologists say that they encounter with communication problems, male and female special education teachers stated that they encounter with communication problems, both male and female special education teachers shared this view. We can say that the educational psychologists and special education teachers lack information regarding sex education. The special education teachers consider masturbation behaviour normal and say this should be done in privacy; on the other hand more than half of the educational psychologists do not have relevant information. We can say that while the educational psychologists state that giving education to families and organizing conferences are sufficient to raise awareness of public regarding the individuals with autism, the special education teachers are on the opinion that the bias “an individual with autism is insane” must be overcome through mass media organs. Moreover, we can say that the educational psychologists think that there are differences in intellectual and physical development of the individuals with autism compared to normal individuals and they socially lag behind on the other hand the special education teachers think that they lag behind in social and communicational terms. The special education teachers are on the opinion that the stress levels of the autistic individuals will increase unless they do not receive sex education and the educational psychologists think that the individuals with autism may attack the members of the opposite sex, may be homosexual and come across with communication problems if do not receive sex education. The information level of the special education teachers and the educational psychologists regarding the characteristics of the individuals with autism and sex education to be delivered to these individuals must be immediately increased and any wrong information on this issue must be corrected. Books, journals and booklets about the sexuality of the autistic children for the families and the relevant institutions must be prepared and awareness of the families must be raised. Taking international applications applied in the institutions giving education to the individuals with autism, arrangements must be made regarding the sexual requirements of these individuals. The awareness of the public regarding the characteristics of the autistic children must be raised through mass media organs. Taking biological and physiological dimensions of the sexuality, there must be doctors, nurses and educational psychologists in the education institutions.