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As I discussed in my last entry, there are extreme differences between school districts who take a proactive approach to autism education and those who are waiting to react to lawsuits and parent demands. However, school districts across the board are seeing a shared trend: the role of special education staff is changing from frontline delivery of services — doing assessments and designing programs — to becoming service coordinators and mentors for classroom teachers with more and more children with autism in their classrooms.
The specialists are becoming experts — providing coaching, mentoring, and training for teachers. Instead of being tasked with helping every child with special needs, specialists are putting their time into helping those who are able to help every child. It’s a multiplier effect that is much needed; rather than focus exclusively on 5 children, specialists spend time training 20 teachers, who then work with 4 or 5 children each.
The Council for Exceptional Children has recognized this and issued guidelines for autism specialists and classroom teachers. Specialists are advised to “disseminate information on effective school practices, support continuous instructional improvement” and collect and interpret “data to document outcomes for individuals,” revising programs as needed. At the classroom level, some of the CEC recommendations include teachers “using evidence-based strategies that fall on a continuum of child-directed to adult-directed in natural and structured contexts” and matching “levels of support to changing needs” of the student. All in all, the CEC standards highlight the growing role specialists are playing as resources and leaders for teachers who are moving into the frontline roles of autism education.
Earlier in December, I had the privilege of delivering a keynote speech at the Council of Administrators of Special Education’s meeting in Burlington, Vermont. Among other things, we talked about the growing issue of autism and the changing model of service delivery. There are two main trends that we’re seeing – school districts are beginning to take a proactive approach, which I’ll talk more about today, and special education staffs are seeing their roles change, which I’ll look at in an upcoming post.
Right now, school districts fall into two categories in how they approach autism – proactive and reactive. Proactive school districts are putting well-thought-out, deliberate programs in place to serve students with autism, including staff training, early intervention and active engagement of parents based on evidence. This intentional approach is actually bringing down the cost per child of education, and helping these districts build a solid base that will most easily accommodate the growing number of students with autism. In short, these schools will not drown as the tide continues to rise.
Reactive school districts, on the other hand, are being forced, often via parent lawsuits, to bring in an eclectic array of practices that don’t necessarily provide widespread student benefits; for instance, districts have been forced to invest in hyperbaric chambers designed to serve as a calming environment for autistic children. These school districts are focused on expensive legal fees and therapies, but aren’t necessarily getting quality results, and are often ignoring more basic issues like teacher training. In these reactive models, the costs are going up each year but the progress in serving children with autism isn’t being made – a downward spiral that will only exacerbate as more and more children require special education. Though the right path seems obvious, there are far too many school districts which are going further and further down the wrong road of autism education.
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Virtual Expert Clinics has just released AutismPro Resource Manager, an online case-management system for autism intervention. AutismPro Resource Manager contains a searchable library of thousands of evidence-based resources, allowing users to create a custom tailored intervention plan that can be delivered by front-line educators, including paraprofessionals. Educators can record and report on the progress of each individual intervention, for each child. Combining this with a communication log, the entire team can analyze, evaluate, and modify each student’s plan as needed.
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The incidence of autism has increased over three-fold in school-age children within the past decade. According to the U.S. Department of Education, 80% of children with autism are in general education classrooms at least once a day. What are the ramifications for the U.S. teachers, 25% of whom must work directly with children with autism each day? How might we address the need for training?
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The incidence of autism has increased over three-fold in school-age children within the past decade. What are the ramifications to the U.S. school system, the largest autism service provider in America? How might we address such difficulties?
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As I examined in my last post, private companies are really starting to make a mark in the world of autism. As private industry becomes more involved, however, it is crucial that we make the most of opportunities for public-private partnerships in autism. These partnerships will play a huge role, tying the front-line knowledge and experience of public groups with the innovative capabilities and financial strength of the private companies.
By working together, public groups and private companies can drastically expand the potential for significant increases in the quality of life for children with autism and their families. Whether it’s helping children directly or providing better support for family members, caregivers or educators, it’s so important not to take an either public or private approach, but to realize that only by finding ways to strategically collaborate will both sides be able to be as effective as possible in serving the needs of the autism community.
In 2000, experts estimated there were about 100,000 children with autism. As we near 2010, that number is poised to go over 500,000 – a remarkable increase over the past decade that speaks to, among other factors, a growing awareness of autism among parents, educators and other professionals. In the past few years, this increase in numbers and awareness has been accompanied by the beginnings of – for lack of a better term – an “autism industry.” To many, the idea of an “autism industry” might seem strange, or even distasteful, but the truth is, an autism industry is actually a great thing for children with autism and their families.
Currently, the vast majority of practitioners who have direct contact with children with autism are in the non-profit and government sectors. If you look at other health conditions that have been in the public consciousness – say, cancer or Alzheimer’s – for some years now, an entire infrastructure of private companies and public entities are available to support patients and their families. The presence of business in these areas, and in autism, is good because businesses provide valuable services and must innovate and reinvest their profits to stay in business.
So as an “autism industry” continues to grow, so will the support and services available to children with autism, their families, educators and others. It’s certainly an interesting time to be involved in this rapidly expanding and changing field, and we’re certain to see lots of innovation from private companies in the coming years.
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