Lockdown Drills and Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Practitioner Confidence, Experiences, and Perceptions

Lockdown drill practice is part of the “new normal” in schools for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and educational practitioners in K-12 schools across the United States. These drills place a tremendous amount of responsibility on practitioners (i.e., teachers, paraprofessionals) that is beyond the scope of their training and typical requirements of their position in the classroom. Lockdown drills also require young children with ASD to engage in actions that are inherently hard for most young children but could be especially difficult for children with ASD who need individualized support to develop the executive function and self-regulation skills to participate in drills successfully. This study investigates practitioners’ training experiences and perceptions of perceived confidence in teaching young children with ASD lockdown drills. Practitioner’s self-efficacy was measured through survey analysis and their perceptions and experiences were investigated through individual interviews. Results indicated low rates of confidence to teach lockdown drills to young children with ASD and higher rates of confidence were correlated with more drill practice. Themes gleaned from interview data revealed varied training and practice experiences for children and practitioners, general characteristics of ASD that help or hinder children’s participation, connections between these characteristics and aspects of lockdown drills that make them difficult to teach, and identification of practitioner responsibilities beyond following protocols.