Inclusive education and ASD classrooms: a legal framework study of preferred ASD schools in Spain
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7179/PSRI_2025.47.01Keywords:
Autism Spectrum Disorder, inclusive education, ASD classrooms, legislation, curriculum accommodationsAbstract
The growing number of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) poses a significant challenge for the education system, which must adapt to ensure inclusive and high-quality schooling, in line with Sustainable Development Goal 4 of the 2030 Agenda. In this context, preferential centers and/or ASD classrooms have emerged, defined as mainstream educational settings equipped with specific resources aimed at creating structured, predictable, and anticipatory environments to support the learning and well-being of students with ASD. This study aims to analyze and compare the current legislation regarding this type of educational provision in fourteen autonomous communities and the two autonomous cities of Spain, through a systematic review of regulatory documents using a mixed-methods approach. The comparison was based on categories drawn from Torre and Martin’s study, including the terminology used, student-teacher ratios, student profiles, available staff resources, spatiotemporal organization, and the presence of this educational model in the institutional documents of the schools. The results reveal significant differences among the various regional regulations, highlighting a lack of nationwide coordination in the approach to educating students with ASD. This heterogeneity affects both the naming and the implementation of ASD classrooms and leads to unclear guidance on key aspects such as methodology, scheduling, and coordination with mainstream classrooms. These normative shortcomings have serious implications for educational practice, creating inequalities in the quality of support received by students with ASD depending on their region of schooling. This underscores the urgent need to establish common criteria and clearer guidelines to ensure equitable and coherent educational support across the country.
Downloads
References
Arnaiz-Sánchez, P., Gallego Nicolás, L., De Haro-Rodríguez, R. y Alcaraz, S. (2022). ¿Qué Modalidad de Escolarización Prefieren los Equipos Directivos para el Alumnado con Apoyos Educativos Generalizados? REICE. Revista Ibe¬roamericana sobre Calidad, Eficacia y Cambio en Educación, 20(3). https://doi.org/10.15366/reice2022.20.3.002
Calderón Almendros, I. y Rascón Gómez, M. T. (2022). Hilando luchas por el derecho a la educación: narrativas colectivas y personales para la inclusión desde el modelo social de la discapacidad. Pedagogía social: revista interuniversitaria, (41), 43-54. https://doi.org/10.7179/PSRI_2022.41.03
Celis Alcalá, G. y Ochoa Madrigal, M. G. (2022). Trastorno del espectro autista (TEA). Revista de la Facultad de Medicina, 65(1), 7-20. https://doi.org/10.22201/fm.24484865e.2022.65.1.02
Cheng, T. L. (2024). Autism Today. Pediatric Clinics, 71(2), 15-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcl.2024.01.009
Contreras Minero, D.M.; Alzate González, L.E. y Távara Sabalú, C. (2023). La educación inclusiva: un desafío para los docentes en el marco del ODS-4. En S.M. Benites, R. Larrea y E. Vásquez (Eds.), Ensayos sobre ética en la investigación: En el marco de la estancia virtual del XXVIII Verano de la Investigación Científica y Tecnológica del Pacífico, 10-15. Editorial de la Universidad Autónoma del Perú. https://bit.ly/4mnK3SS
De La Torre González, B. y Martín, E. (2020). La respuesta educativa al alumnado con Trastorno del Espectro del Autismo (TEA) en España: Un avance desigual. Revista Internacional de Educación para la Justicia Social (RIEJS), 9(1), 249-268. https://doi.org/10.15366/riejs2020.9.1.01
Espinal Suárez, T. (2024). Diseño Inclusivo de Espacios Educativos: Explorando Estrategias Arquitectónicas para el autismo [Trabajo Fin de Grado, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana]. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11912/11816
Espinoza-Pajuelo, L. Á. y Ochoa-Pachas, J. M. (2020). El nivel de investigación relacional en las ciencias sociales. Acta jurídica peruana, 3(2), 93-111. http://revistas.autonoma.edu.pe/index.php/AJP/article/view/257
Golt, J. y Kana, R. K. (2022). History of autism. In The neuroscience of autism (pp. 1-14). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-816393-1.00002-6
Grosso, M. L. (2021). El autismo en los manuales diagnósticos internacionales: Cambios y consecuencias en las últi¬mas ediciones. Revista Española de Discapacidad, 9(1), 273-283. https://doi.org/10.5569/2340-5104.09.01.15
Jaramillo-Arias, P., Sampedro-Tobón, M. E. y Sánchez-Acosta, D. (2022). Perspectiva histórica del trastorno del es¬pectro del autismo. Acta neurológica colombiana, 38(2), 91-97. https://doi.org/10.22379/24224022405
Klin, A. (2022). Fronteras en la investigación de la patogenia del autismo. Medicina, 82, 33-36. https://bit.ly/44E1zM8
Lázaro Lázaro, M. (2023). Modalidades de escolarización en Educación Infantil y Primaria de estudiantes con Trastorno del Espectro del Autismo: percepción de familias y profesorado (Tesis Doctoral, Universidad de Salamanca). http://hdl.handle.net/10366/156050
Luzón Trujillo, A., Caride Gómez, J. A. y Sevilla Merino, D. (2023). Políticas educativas, ocio inclusivo y equidad so¬cial ante los nuevos futuros de la educación. Pedagogía social: revista interuniversitaria, (43), 15-29. https://doi.org/10.7179/PSRI_2023.43.01
Martínez Alcañiz, I., Moreno, R. M. E. y Blanchard Giménez, M. (2021). Autismo 3.0: neurobiología, tecnología y edu¬cación en el Trastorno del Espectro Autista. MLS Inclusion and Society Journal, 1(1), 7-24. https://www.mlsjour¬nals.com/MLS-Inclusion-Society/article/view/959
Martínez García, E. y Ferrando Prieto, M. (2022). Escolarización del alumnado con TEA y la satisfacción de las fa¬milias: Un estudio piloto. Espiral. Cuadernos del profesorado, 15(31), 114-128. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=8581644
Miranda Gonçalves, R. (2023). Educación de calidad y Derechos Humanos en el siglo XXI: Descifrando el ODS 4. Revista Justiça do Direito, 37(2). https://doi.org/10.5335/rjd.v37i2.15295
Pogoda, J. y Majczyk, J. (2022). Educational spaces for students with autism spectrum disorders. Architectus, 3(71), 69-77. https://doi.org/10.37190/arc220307
Qin, L., Wang, H., Ning, W., Cui, M. y Wang, Q. (2024). New advances in the diagnosis and treatment of autism spec¬trum disorders. European Journal of Medical Research, 29(1), 322. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40001-024-01916-2
Ríos Posso, C., Colorado Grajales, D. M. y Sánchez Ruiz, M. S. (2022). Estrategias pedagógicas de enseñanza-apren¬dizaje desde la inclusión a niños y niñas con trastorno del espectro autista en Latinoamérica [Tesis doctoral, Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios]. https://repository.uniminuto.edu/handle/10656/17387
Souto Galván, C. (2021). La evolución de las políticas educativas: de la integración a la inclusión. Revista de educa¬ción y derecho: Education and law review, (1), 21. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=8215077
Terrón Berbel, A. B. (2023). Informe de análisis normativo: Estrategia Estatal de Desinstitucionalización 2024-2030. Centro Español sobre Trastorno del Espectro del Autismo. http://riberdis.cedid.es/handle/11181/6941
Vela Llauradó, E., Martín Martínez, L. y Martín Cruz, I. (2020). Analysis of ASD Classrooms: Specialised Open Class¬rooms in the Community of Madrid. Sustainability, 12(18), 7342. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187342
Vidriales Fernández, R., Gutiérrez Ruiz, C., Sánchez López, C. E., Plaza Sanz, M., Hernández Layna, C. y Verde Ca¬giao, M. (2021). El alumnado con trastorno del espectro del autismo en España. Análisis de la distribución auto¬nómica y de los modelos educativos existentes. Confederación Autismo España. http://hdl.handle.net/11181/6263
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright and right to archive
The published version of the articles can be self-archived by their authors in open access institutional and thematic repositories. However, Pedagogía Social. Revista Interuniversitaria must authorize partial or global reutilisation on new papers or publications.
Published papers must be cited including the title of the journal Pedagogía Social. Revista Interuniversitaria, issue, pages and year of publication
Ethical responsibilities
Pedagogía Social. Revista Interuniversitaria does not accept any material that has been previously published in other documents or publications. Authors are responsible for obtaining the required permissions for partial or global reproduction any material from other publications, and to correctly quote its origin.
Pedagogía Social. Revista Interuniversitaria is obliged to detect and report fraudulent practices.
Only those who have intellectually contribute to the development of the paper must appear as authors.
The journal expects authors to declare any commercial partnership that might entail a conflict of interest with respect to the submitted article.
Authors must mention in the article, preferably in the “methodology” section, that the procedures used during the samplings and controls have been made after getting informed consent.
The journal will not use any received contribution in a way other than the goals described in these guidelines.
Copyright Notice
© Pedagogía Social. Revista Interuniversitaria. Papers published in both the printed and online versions of this Journal are property of Pedagogia Social. Revista Interuniversitaria, being required to cite the source in any partial or total reproduction.
Unless otherwise stated, all content of this electronic journal is distributed under "Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial 3.0 Spain" (CC-by-nc) license for use and distribution. The informative version and the legal text of this license is available here. This has to be expressly stated in this way when necessary.
