Teachers of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Intellectual Disability, and Developmental Disability: Supports and Their Intent to Stay in Special Education

Abstract

There is a lack of qualified special education teachers (SETs) in U.S. public schools. The literature has provided mixed results related to a variety of supports for SETs, including administrator, colleague, professional development, mentorship, and resources and their impact on retention. In addition, few studies have focused on SETs who work specifically with students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual disability (ID), and developmental disability (DD). This study uses survey methodology with 859 SETs to determine if differences in intent to stay are seen for novice versus experienced SETs and which factors influence SETs’ intention to stay or leave. We specifically focus on teachers working with students with ASD, ID, and DD and compare them to other SETs from the sample. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.