Privacy Education in Early Childhood Children With Autism and Shadow Teachers

Abstract

The primary objective of the study is to raise awareness among shadow teacher candidates working with young autistic children. The researcher designed a privacy training program to teach self-protection and privacy skills to autistic children. This study examines the effectiveness of the researcher-designed materials and presents the reflections of shadow teacher candidates. The research was conducted using a qualitative experimental research method as explained in Leplaa et al. (2025). Qualitative data collection techniques were used to gather data throughout the study. The researcher examines the changes in the participants after an intervention. Data were analyzed using qualitative data analysis software. In qualitative experimental research, changes after an intervention are presented as a whole (Robinson and Mendelson, 2012). Participants completed a pre-test, received privacy training, then completed a post-test and a retention test. The pre-test, consisting of 10 questions, was designed to identify the shadow teacher candidates' current knowledge regarding privacy education and was administered during the first week. The following week, the researcher delivered the privacy education program titled “Trust from the Shadow (3G)” and conducted practical exercises using the designed materials. The following week, a posttest consisting of 9 questions was administered to assess the impact of the training and materials. Five weeks later, a retention test was conducted to evaluate the persistence of the acquired knowledge. Following the retention test, semi-structured interviews were conducted with one shadow teacher candidate from each of the two universities. The collected data were analyzed using a qualitative analysis software and coding was performed. This study was conducted with students enrolled in the “Shadow Teaching for People with Disabilities Program” at two universities in Turkiye. The study group consisted of a total of 13 students attending classes at both universities. The materials designed by the researcher were piloted with three children with autism. Following the pilot study, the privacy education was enriched based on the observations obtained and incorporated into the content of the 3G training. At the end of the research, it was observed that the privacy education enriched with the materials had a positive effect on the shadow teachers' views on how privacy education should be conducted for children with autism.