This document discusses ethics in teaching students with autism spectrum disorders. It outlines codes of ethics for special educators including developing student potential, maintaining competence and integrity, and advancing knowledge. It discusses ethical concerns around confidentiality, inclusion of autism students, and behavior issues. Regarding confidentiality, it outlines regulations to protect student information. For inclusion, it notes the trend toward inclusion and ethical concerns around making it functional. For behavior, it discusses manifestation determinations and using positive interventions before aversive plans.

1. Ethics
Teaching Students with
Autism Spectrum Disorders

2. By
Kathryn Wendt
7/8/2012

3. Table of contents
3,4 Ethic’s of special educators
5 Ethical concerns
6-8 Confidentiality
9-10 Inclusion
11-13 Behavior
14 References

4. Code of Ethics
• Committed to developing the highest educational and
quality of life potential of individuals with exceptionalities.
• Promote and maintain a high level of competence and
integrity in practicing the profession.
• Engage in professional activities which benefit
individuals with exceptionalities, their families, other
colleagues, students or research subjects
• Exercise objective professional judgment in the
participation of the profession.

5. Ethics
• Strive to advance knowledge and skills regarding the
education of individuals with exceptionalities.
• Work within standards and policies of the profession
• Seek to uphold and improve where necessary in laws,
regulations, and policies governing the delivery of
special education and related services and the practice
of the profession.
• Do not condone or participate in unethical or illegal acts,
nor violate professional standards adopted by the
Delegate Assembly of the Council for Exceptional
Children. (The CEC, 1993.)

6. Ethical
Concerns

8. Confidentiality
• Educators are obligated to protect the identity of
children with ASD by following guidelines and
laws aimed at keeping information about the
student confidential.

9. Regulations for Confidentiality of
Students with ASD
(1) written or oral information about these students and their
families may be shared only with personnel who can benefit the student and his or her
family by having this knowledge.
(2) recipients should protect the information from disclosure
(3) information concerning a particular student may not be shared with other students
or parents under any circumstances.
(4) discussions concerning confidential information are to take place in secured
locations (Mountain Plains Regional Resource Center, 1998).
When personnel such as substitutes and para-educators are in the class, the
classroom teacher must inform them about the need for confidentiality. They should
discuss the guidelines of confidentiality for their class and how to proceed if the
classroom teacher is absent. Para-educators need to be aware that students’ files
should be locked up at all times and that what they observe, hear, or learn in the class
should stay in the class to protect the rights of these children (Fleury, 2000).

10. Inclusion
There has been an increasing trend to include
students with autism and other disabilities in
general education classrooms along with their
typically developing peers (McDonnell, 1998). This
trend has stemmed largely from theoretical
arguments related to social development and legal
issues related to the civil rights movement (for a
review, see Harrower, 1999).

11. Ethical concerns about inclusion
• Inclusion must be made functional.
• Planning, logistics and research.
• Educators must find balanced ways for
students with ASD to spend quality time
with peers as well as with their special
education teachers who are critical to their
supplemental support.
• Educators need to find ways to involve
peer support groups that truly bolster the
child's sense of inclusion and allow them to
establish actual relationships with fellow
students.

12. Behavior

13. Behavior
Currently, federal law states that children with
challenging behavior, if it results from a disability,
and if they are removed from a setting, there has
to be a manifestation determination.
That means that you have a call a team
meeting and decide if it is a result of their disability
or not. If is is due to their disability, they have to
receive FAPE (Free and appropriate education) in
some environment.

14. Ethical Issues Concerning Behavior
in students with ASD
• Federal law says that you must try 2 positive
behavior interventions before you can create an
aversive behavior plan. (isolated time out).
• Positive behavior programs, if followed correctly
can decrease and/or eliminate target behavior.
• Least intrusive procedures must be tried first
• ONLY if they have been found ineffective, are
more intrusive procedures implemented.
(Cooper et al., 2007).

15. References
BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION, Vol. 25 No. 5, October 2001 762-784 (2001) Sage
Publications.
Hall, L. J.(2009). Autism spectrum disorders: From theory to
Iyer, N., & Daqi, L. (2007). Chapter 9: REFLECTIONS ON A DILEMMA IN
SPECIAL EDUCATION COURSES. In , Ethical Educator: Integrating
Ethics within the Context of Teaching & Teacher Research (pp. 93-99).
Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.
McEnvoy, M.,PhD. Legal and Ethical Issues Regarding Behavior. (2009).
Pierangelo, R., & Giuliani, G. (2008). Teaching students with autism spectrum
disorders: A step-by-step guide for educators. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Corwin Press.