Professional competence of teachers: Improving reading comprehension in classes for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

In Israel, many pupils with autism learn in self-contained special education classes. Many teachers report having challenges with academic interventions in general and with reading comprehension in-terventions specifically. We conducted a qualitative intervention study examining seven special educa-tion teachers' feelings of professional competence before and after implementing a specific teaching -model intervention developed for improving reading comprehension. It was designed according to the teachers' needs and focused on evidence-based practices of classroom management skills and research -based reading-comprehension strategies. The teachers reported an improvement in their pupils' reading comprehension which, in turn, led to improvements in their feelings of competence and professional efficacy.(c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.