Knowledge of Autism among school personnel in the Garki District of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja

Abstract

This paper investigated knowledge of autism among school personnel in the Garki District of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja. The study sample comprised 194 school personnel made up of 82 males and 112 females. The respondents were randomly selected from government- owned primary and secondary schools within the district. A modified  version of the knowledge about childhood autism among health workers (KCAHW) by Bakare, et al (2008) was used to measure knowledge of the respondents have heard of autism a good number were not conversant with what constitute the disorder.  Of the three hypotheses posed, one was rejected showing that there were significant differences at the 5% probability level while two were retained, depicting non-significance. Based on this, it was suggested among others, that awareness campaign need to be intensified (as this came to the fore as the least source of knowledge of autism) to reach all nooks and crannies not only in the FCT but nationally. This is particularly to enable stakeholders, principally; school personnel gain adequate knowledge on autism as they are the next important people after parents, in the handling of children. This is aimed towards early diagnosis and intervention. Based on this premise, it is believed that the knowledge of autism through creation of awareness among school personnel will go a long way in curtailing the problems and challenges posed by autism.