News

• What's New at ACE?
• Across Virginia
• Across the U.S.
• Archived News
• Archived eNewsletters

One of the goals of VCU-ACE is to lower the age of identification so children on the spectrum can receive the intensive services they need at a young age. In an effort to address this goal, VCU-ACE recently sponsored a two-day workshop on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). The workshop was presented by Dr. Barbara Webb, School Psychologist and Autism Consultant. Dr. Webb resides in Arizona and delivers ADOS training across the country.

Participants in this workshop were taught how to use the ADOS in educational assessment to assess and diagnose or determine eligibility of autism. Instructional methods included lecture, videotaped administration and scoring, and discussion. Participants also had the opportunity to practice scoring while observing the administration of the ADOS, and to practice administering the ADOS themselves.

Training was provided to school psychologists, administrators, and early childhood special education teachers. Although most participants were from the Newport News and Hampton Public School Divisions, many other divisions were also represented, including, the Northern Neck Regional Special Education Program, Greensville, Tazewell, Isle of Wight, Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Gloucester. Some participants in the two-day workshop had previously received training on using a tiered model of assessment for children and students who may meet criteria for autism. "The training provided by Dr. Webb was extremely valuable and will lead to a more effective assessment process," noted a school psychologist from Newport News.

Register now for the VCU-ACE Summer Webcast Series featuring Dr. Gena Barnhill on Asperger’s Syndrome and the Transition to Adulthood: Considerations for Success; Dr. Carol Schall on Supporting Adults with ASD in the Workplace using Behavior Supports; and Dr. Paul Wehman on Transition for Youth with Autism from School to Adulthood: Critical Considerations.

Remember if you are not able to watch the live broadcasts, all VCU-ACE webcasts are archived for future viewing. Be sure to check out the ones you might have missed!

The previous OCALI Transition to Adulthood Guidelines for Individuals with ASD has been revised and formatted into a series of free web–based booklets. Each booklet focuses on one aspect of the transition from school to adult life – IEP’s, School Programming, Age-Appropriate Transition Assessment, and Employment.

Forward Motion Coaching has released several new guides on employment, including Getting Hired: A Primer for Individuals with Asperger's Syndrome & NLD; Asperger’s Syndrome, NLD and Employment: 10 Strategies for Success; Workplace Disclosure: Strategies for Individuals with Asperger's Syndrome and NLD; and The Employer’s Guide to Asperger’s Syndrome.

Brief descriptions and links to these and other resources on Transition and Adulthood can be found on the VCU-ACE website.

Henrico County Public Schools and VCU-ACE are ending the first year of their partnership with a flurry of activity. Henrico had previously developed an ‘Autism Classroom Rubric’ to help their administrators support teachers in educating their students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. As part of the VCU-ACE technical assistance, the rubric is now being used as a coaching tool to assist autism specialists in the division in providing teachers with evidence-based tools in their classrooms.

Another of the tools that Henrico has adopted is the VB-MAPP (Verbal Behavior- Milestones Assessment and Placement Program). The VB-MAPP is currently being utilized by several school divisions in Virginia as well as many private schools. VCU-ACE is working closely with Henrico to provide trainings and in-classroom support to assist in the adoption of this tool. Trainings have taken place throughout the division and are currently being expanded to include paraprofessionals who work with students on the spectrum.

A Message from Carol Schall, Ph.D., Director of Technical Assistance

One in every 88 children has an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).  Let me repeat that statement: one out of every 88 children has an ASD.  When considering boys, that number is even more shocking.  For boys, the reported prevalence is one out of every 54 children.  That means that slightly over 1% of all school aged children may have an ASD.  Ten years ago, in 2002, the measured prevalence was one child with an ASD to every 250 children.  In fact, for some time now, the projected prevalence of ASD has been the fastest rising developmental disability in the world.  Extrapolating that figure to the entire population of children between the ages of birth to 18 years old in the 2010 census means that there could be as many as 842,702 children in the US right now with an ASD. 

Behind this overall prevalence, there are some interesting findings though.  For example, this new data suggests that the majority of children with ASD do not also have an intellectual disability.  In addition, while there is an increase in the prevalence of ASD in every racial group, according to the CDC, the greatest increase is noted for black and Hispanic children.  Finally, the average age of diagnosis has dropped, but not low enough.  Research suggests that early intervention for young children with ASD is most effective when it starts before the age of 3 years old, yet, the average age of diagnosis for most children in the study is after the age of 4 years old.  This data suggests two important issues.  First, we must continue to educate pediatricians to look for the signs of ASD earlier at well baby visits.  Second, we must continue to work for equity in health care across race and national origin. 

While we ponder and adjust to a world where ASD is common, we must not forget that numbers do not tell the whole story of a group of people.  Behind these numbers are children, adolescents and adults in need of services and, yes, excellence from their teachers, bus drivers, principals, baby sitters, cafeteria workers, and families. More than the numbers themselves is the need.  Perhaps that is the real story to discuss as we ponder the effect of this increased prevalence.  Almost one million children (.84 million to be exact) in the United States have support needs that may exceed their school’s ability to meet them.  To be fair, many children with ASD are being educated successfully in their public schools.  Nevertheless, most teachers and schools in the United States report that they struggle to understand how to educate children and adolescents with ASD.  That is where VCU ACE can be most effective.  It is our mission and passion to make these children welcome in their school and neighborhoods.  We work for a day when all 0.84 million children with an ASD live, play, and learn next to their brothers and sisters. We work in schools, with teachers, principals, educational administrators, paraprofessional educators, families and others who love and care for children and youth with ASD to assure that these children are college ready, career ready, actively engaged citizens in their communities.

Have you ever had a student with a behavior that interfered in their learning or the learning of others in the classroom?  If you have or if you are just curious about behavior then this is the course for you. The Strategies for Supporting Positive Behaviors in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders course will make its debut on April 16, when eighty learners will embark on a four week journey that will provide them with information and strategies to incorporate into their daily activities to proactively support students with ASD demonstrating interfering behaviors.  The course first begins by addressing the fundamentals of behavior and the relationship of behavior to the core deficits of ASD.  Once learners have a solid understanding of how and why behavior develops they will explore and break down the Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) process. Learners will navigate their way through the process learning to define behaviors, understand behaviors, observe behaviors, and develop a hypothesis statement about the behavior.  Discussion of the FBA process will then lead the learners into investigating strategies that can be used when developing a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) for students with ASD. 

Throughout the course learners will be guided as they follow three individuals with ASD who demonstrate behaviors by completing Think About It! and Apply It! activities. These activities will provide the learner an opportunity to apply the information they are learning in the course.  Upon completion of the activities in the course, including a quiz to assess acquired knowledge, the learner will receive a Certificate of Completion.  The next Strategies for Supporting Positive Behaviors in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders course will be offered starting June 18.  Enrollment for the June 18 course will open on April 18. Be sure to register early to guarantee yourself a spot in this invaluable course!

It’s been a busy year in Greensville County! President Obama visited Greensville High School in October and Greensville County Public Schools and VCU-ACE are near the end of the first year of our partnership. Greensville made a strong statement at the beginning of this project by choosing the following Vision Statement: “We do not teach labels, we teach children.” That commitment has helped provide the continuing push to insure that all of the children diagnosed with autism in their division receive individualized instruction and supports from K-12.

Middle School is a tough time for all students and to help their students on the spectrum, Greensville has launched a social skills group at Wyatt Middle School that is based on the PEERS (Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relationship Skills) program run out of UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. The program helps teachers individualize instruction and tackle issues such as conversational skills, making friends, teasing, bullying, telling jokes, and handling disagreements.

Greensville is also moving forward with one of their key goals -- “By August 2016, all professionals and paraprofessionals employed for a minimum of 3 consecutive years at GCPS will have completed their 'Autism Competency Portfolio.” The Autism Service Improvement Team (ASIT) has been meeting monthly and is using the Virginia Autism Council’s Skill Competencies for Professionals and Paraprofessionals as a core resource. Led by two teachers, Marchae Cannady and Bridget Brown, the team has been meeting with teachers, paraprofessionals, and other key stakeholders to insure that the ‘Autism Competency Portfolio’ meets Greensville’s needs. Mrs. Cannady and Mrs. Brown have also started a bi-monthly meeting for the teachers and paraprofessionals working directly with students diagnosed with autism at the elementary and middle school level. Greensville has also adopted the Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP) as an assessment instrument to help their teachers identify the areas of greatest deficit and address them in a comprehensive way. Under the stewardship of Dr. Heritage Rae Mitchell and Mary Wellman, Greensville County Public Schools continues to demonstrate their commitment to all of their students.

According to Etienne Wenger (2006), communities of practice are groups of people who share a passion for something they do and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better.  The focus is to create a space where individuals of similar commitment and shared expertise can work together to share knowledge and information, while supporting one another in joint activities and discussions.
 
Autism Specialists and Division Autism Leaders in Virginia are now gathering in regional CoLA meetings to network and share resources.  VCU-ACE is excited to be collaborating with the VDOE T/TACs and other regional agencies to facilitate these discussions.  CoLAs are uniquely designed for division specialists who are working in a leadership capacity in autism.  Leaders in autism are those individuals who provide training, consultation, or coaching to teachers and others in the division.
 
In addition to identifying needs and future goals, CoLA meetings also include: autism updates from VDOE; training and technical assistance opportunities through the VCU-ACE and the T/TACs; “Learning Boost” activities on specific topics of interest to autism leaders; discussions on opportunities for professional development; and networking among autism specialists.  Please contact Becky Boswell, VCU-ACE Outreach Coordinator, at boswellrk@vcu.edu for more information on the CoLA in your region.

Botetourt County Public Schools (BCPS) has been making great strides in providing coaching across the division, and recently, things have really begun to ramp up! Two areas that BCPS is focusing are language instruction and social skills instruction. In each area the division has begun to engage in a comprehensive systems-change program involving training and, more importantly, coaching around both assessment and evidence-based instruction.

To help support professional development around the area of language instruction for students with ASD, BCPS analyzed various sets of scope and sequence and decided to pursue the use of the Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP). To support language instruction, Moving Toward Functional Social Competence was chosen. Each of these tools was selected for division-wide use to achieve consistency of instruction across settings throughout the division.

In moving towards division-wide implementation, BCPS recently engaged in two-day sets of workshops led by TA Associates Steven Celmer and Teresa Lyons. To ensure sustainable practice, on day one the division elected to have the TA Associates first train the selected division coaches. Then on day two, the division coaches used the skills that they had gained to deliver training to educational teams from the division. The teams have since been working to complete the assessment for one student on their caseload, and have been receiving follow-up coaching from the division coaches to further support their learning of either the VB-MAPP or Moving Towards Functional Social Competence.

While this training and coaching process on assessments is scheduled to continue through the end of this school year, starting in the 2012-2013 school year, BCPS will move toward supporting staff in translating the assessment information into evidence-based instruction for both language and social skills. Relevant practices will be targeted, and the same process of “TA Associate coaches Division Coaches – Division Coaches coach Teams” will be repeated to ensure that skills and knowledge reach the level of implementation in the classroom.

Just click the link below, “Like” our page and get updates on the latest training and resource information from VCU-ACE! 

By joining the VCU-ACE email list, you will receive announcements of new trainings, updates on ACE activities, and links to the newest research in the field.

More information: Sign up here!