This chapter discusses a service learning course using combined board game activities and direct social skill teaching to enhance social and communicative skills of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Ten students with ASD/social and emotional problems (aged 6–8) were invited to participate in an 8-week after-school training programme in a Hong Kong ordinary school. Each session was divided into two parts with 30 min of direct social skills instruction conducted by a teacher, followed by 60 min of board games facilitated by undergraduate students who were attending a social service learning course in a university. Most students with ASD engaged in playing board games and could apply the social and communicative skills that they learned in the training programmes. Facilitators also reported an increase in comprehension skills of students with ASD. Copyright © 2022 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

This chapter discusses the effectiveness of current professional development programmes for teachers of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Hong Kong. The article first introduces the available services for students with ASD. The Resource Teaching Programme has been the major service provided by special schools since 1984. The principle of teaching students with special educational needs (SEN) in the least restrictive settings has rendered a rapid growth of the population of students with ASD in ordinary schools in the last decade, causing concern among the teachers. Different tiers of professional development programmes have been developed to equip teachers in ordinary schools with the knowledge and skills needed in dealing with students with SEN. However, these programmes are mainly short term and transmitted directly from the top down. The lack of opportunity to practise newly acquired knowledge and skills in real environments cannot provide sufficient confidence for teachers to handle students with ASD independently. The final part of this chapter provides a recommendation for a collaborative mode of professional development that can assist teachers in gaining practical experiences in a field-based training programme. Copyright © 2022 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

This study aims to deliver a school‐based mode of training for in‐service teachers of students with ASD in Hong Kong. The training is delivered following the phases of implementation science, namely, exploration, installation, and implementation. The project team used the theory of mind approach, which enables teachers to engage with students with ASD and to focus on recognizing and reacting to emotions. Participants in this study included four educators from a teacher education institution, three expert teachers, and 19 in‐service teacher trainees. The most salient responses came from trainees who were provided with the opportunity to apply learned skills in their own classrooms immediately and to share the knowledge and skills in dealing with students with ASD in the post‐conference meetings.
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