Autism education in Greece at the beginning of the 21st century: reviewing the literature

Abstract

This paper considers recent evidence on autism education in Greece in order to shed light on current developments and attitudes. Given the increase in relevant research in the country, a scoping review to identify topics that have been explored so far and propose areas for future research and implications for practice is timely and necessary. Peer-reviewed papers published between 2000 and 2019 were identified via electronic databases and their main themes were analysed. Themes related to autistic individual (i.e. the voice of autistic individuals and intervention studies), the family around them (i.e. the role of family and stigma), the role of teachers (i.e. teacher training and teacher stress levels) and the wider society (i.e. parent-teacher collaboration, the medical/deficit model of disability and inclusion) emerged from the review. The above themes are discussed in the light of the cultural characteristics of Greece and the recent economic crisis the country underwent as well as similar findings from other European countries.