Abstract:

The aim of this study is to determine the educational role of social work in the social integration of individuals with an autism spectrum disorder, which is a social issue, through a qualitative research method. The study was carried out with twelve educator employees of three special education practice first-grade schools that teach children with autism spectrum disorder and are affiliated with the Ministry of National Education. The theoretical basis of the study is social learning, system, social exchange theories, and cognitive behavioral therapy, problem-solving, and crisis intervention models. According to the results of the study carried out with the interpretive phenomenology method, it was determined that social work had roles in the social integration of children with autism spectrum disorders such as family, education, care, counseling, sustainable innovation, and ethics. The results determined that ethics in social work was easy, equal, and free access to service. Innovation in social work includes new approaches in education and training, new methods, improvement and continuity in service, adaptation to change, and self-renewal. The problems experienced in the educational function of social work were basically determined as the lack of expertise of the educators, the ethical and social problems raised by the implementation of care and education services in schools by a single teacher, the lack of technological infrastructure of the schools, the deficiencies in the activities that need to be carried out for the children to socialize, the deficiencies in the education of families about autism, the problem with female students' personal care being provided by female staff.

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