Autism Staff Development and Training
Staff development and training is available through Comprehensive Services of Professional Development (CSPD). These services are mandated as a means to build local capacity in our 24 school districts and charter schools and are funded by IDEA Part B funds. There is no additional charge for these services.
Such services may include, but are not limited to training sessions at the IU or on site. IU staff present information to one or more participants, identified by the school district, providing training materials to support learning and suggesting general applications of techniques and strategies based on researched practices. Particular examples include the Autism Select Team Training, a multi-day highly specialized training that facilitates learning of critical autism topics through guided practice and targeted homework assignments, “Effective Classroom Development Design” an new multi-day training developed for the 2005-2006 school year to assist districts in designing classrooms, and trainings presented by national speakers on current issues and research areas.
Autism Programs as a Related Service
Service delivery is designed for school based teams serving students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) on a fee for service basis.
- Supports are provided by one of the CAIU’s four (4) Autism Educational Consultants, as assigned.
- Consultation and support may be provided to staffs, who are employed by a local district, at the current hourly rate for CAIU itinerant services.
- Such supports may include but are not limited to assistance in conducting initial curriculum based assessments and on site observations that result in a written report. Supports also include identification, development, and implementation of supports that the student requires to make progress and benefit from his/her educational programming. Data collection and the transfer of skills to district educators is the final goal. The specific “Itinerant/Supports to Personnel” will be identified on the student’s IEP.
Autism Programs as Supports to School Personnel
The Educational Consultants are also available to continue working with the referring district team following itinerant services.
- This Supports to School Personnel service includes providing assistance through site-based guided practice and action-planning to strategically and systematically train other district staff. Co-teaching as well as guided practice will be utilized to promote skill transfer from autism educational consultants to district staff. This is included in the service provided by supports to school personnel to guide district staff in full delivery of effective and efficient services once the CAIU consultant completes the referral.
- Each of the Educational Consultants possess particular expertise in a variety of specific autism related areas of social cognition, pragmatic language, functional behavioral assessment/and behavior plan design and self-regulation. Additionally related staff expertise for consultation to the autism program include speech/language and occupational therapy, assistive technology, oral-motor and feeding, behavioral support, school psychology, secondary transition.
To track both Itinerant and Supports to School Personnel activities a systematic tool will be utilized by each CAIU autism consultant to monitor all consulting activities for the district to assist the district in documenting what services have been delivered to their student and to monitor skill transfer success to district staff.
Autism Support Services Program Profile