Inclusive Education of Children with Autism as a Factor of Development «Theory of Mind»

Abstract

The reform of the system of special and inclusive education updates scientific research in order to implement the most effective methods of socializing children with special educational needs in the general education space. For this purpose are considered the possibilities of beha­vioral, social-communicative, social-cognitive and multimodal approaches in inclusive, corrective-development work with children with autism spectrum disorders. It is revealed that the development of the socio-cognitive phenomenon «Theory of mind» is determined by the hierarchy of subsystems: microsystem, mesosystem, ecosystem, macrosystem and chronosystem. An empirical study of pedagogical staff of inclusive educational institutions has expanded the idea of the Ukrainian eco­system’s potential for the development of the «theory of mind». As a result of the content analysis of the offline survey, the advantage of training cognitive functions before social (the amount of time and attention that was paid, and awareness of professional development needs); teachers seek to educate the children through the positive attitude towards the child with the ASD; they are con­vinced that they are well aware of the skills and personal qualities that are required for inclusion; reasonably believed that the level of satisfaction with their work by teachers of inclusive institutions is one of the conditions for the effectiveness of the professional activity and the establishment of the psychological climate of the class, the positive motivation for teaching both children with autism spectrum disorders and neurotypical children of the inclusive class.