Early Intervention Training and Technical Assistance

What is Early Intervention IT?    DCK Team Support

Effective Practices      Early Intervention CEU     Application

Early Intervention Training

The START Early Intervention Training and Technical Assistance (TA) is a year long training and support focusing on effective practices that increases knowledge and skills to enhance the educational programming and outcomes for young children with ASD. It is the explicit expectation of this training and technical assistance that significant improvements in programming for young children with ASD will result from this collaboration with START.

This training will address organizational supports, instructional supports, and people supports necessary to create a highly effective learning environment for young children with ASD. The training will include presentations, videos, and activities related to effective practices that increase knowledge and skills to enhance the educational outcomes for young children with ASD, with particular emphasis on the classroom environment. The information for this presentation is drawn from the National Research Council report on Educating Children with Autism, the empirical literature on effective practices for young children with ASD, and direct experience working with young children with ASD.

Objectives:

• Identify evidence based practices for young children with ASD
• Design a classroom structure with engaging and motivating learning activities to promote learning and reduce problem behaviors
• Identify ways to increase learning opportunities in the classroom
• Use effective behavior supports to reduce the occurrence of challenging behaviors in the future
• Identify critical learning goals for young children with ASD and learn strategies for effective instructional delivery
• Create structured play and social opportunities for young children with ASD
• Develop team problem solving skills

For further information, please download the '09-10 Early Intervention Training Application.

Dramatic Change for Kids (DCK) Team Support 

Classroom teams may apply as a “Dramatic Change for Kids” classroom (DCK classroom), which will involve a visit to their classroom and more intensive support in evaluating current programing for students with ASD and related disabilities and identify ways to improve supports and services. making changes to their programming for students.

Approximately 2-3 teams will be selected.

DCK Team Support Application

Effective Practices Assessment Tool

The Effective Practices Assessment Tool was developed from a review of the literature on critical practices necessary for effective programming for young children with ASD. Establishing these practices in a program/classroom is important to allow children to make steady progress toward successful involvement in general education environments. The tool allows teams to rate the current level of implementation of critical practices and also re-evaluate progress over time. Examples are provided for three anchor levels.

Download the Effective Practices Assessment Tool

Early Intervention Intensive Trainings (CEU)

Orientation to Early Intervention for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Meeting Mechanics Team Training. 

This orientation will briefly cover the primary components of the START program along with the evidence based practices for serving young children with ASD in classroom settings. The critical elements of programming will be discussed. Participants will conceptualize their model program and what elements would be necessary to begin to develop such a program. Guiding principles will be covered and participants will begin to develop principles for their own program.

The Meeting Mechanics module presents a problem solving format that can be applied to all team decision making efforts.  Four interconnected components will be shared including: Meeting mechanics, ABC paradigm for problem solving, Learning Hierarchy, and Team Accountability.  This information can be readily applied to child study teams, caseload teams and any behavior plan efforts.  Participants will gain team based process skills that can be universally adapted to many problems.

Objectives:

• Understand the primary components of the START Project
• Identify critical elements of early intervention for young children with ASD
• Conceptualize an ideal for their own program for the purpose of goal setting
• Develop guiding principles for their own program
• Understand the meeting mechanics team problem solving process
• Identify methods to improve their own team meetings 

Foundations in Effective Practices for Young Children with ASD

This training addresses organizational supports, instructional supports, and people supports necessary to create a highly effective learning environment for young children with ASD. An emphasis will be placed on constructing a classroom environment that promotes numerous learning and social opportunities through creative scheduling, visual supports, student and staff expectations, differentiated instruction, and proactive behavior strategies. The information for this presentation is drawn from the empirical literature on effective practices for young children with ASD, as well as direct experience in classrooms.

Objectives:

• Identify evidence based practices for young children with ASD
• Design a classroom structure and schedule to promote learning and reduce problem behaviors
• Identify ways to increase learning opportunities throughout the day
• Create engaging and motivating learning activities to proote learning and reduce challenging behaviors
• Develop team problem-solving skills

Advanced Training for Improved Outcomes, with an Emphasis on Applied Behavior Analysis and other Evidence Based Practices

This training emphasizes evidence based practices to support student progress, primarily the use of intensive teaching strategies such as applied behavior analysis (ABA). The foundations of ABA will be presented and discussed in the context of the classroom environment with a focus on the broad definition of ABA and its many components. Key areas addressed will include curriculum, assessment, identifying learning goals, instructional presentation, prompting and reinforcement, and data collection and analysis. The information for this presentation is drawn from the empirical literature on effective practices for young children with ASD, as well as direct experience in classrooms.

Objectives:

• Define Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and components of ABA
• Understand the research base for ABA and how ABA has evolved over time
• Identify key curriculum areas for young children with ASD
• Identify critical individual learning goals based on a comprehensive assessment
• Deliver effective instruction using the 3R process and understand prompting and reinforcement to support instructional delivery
• Understand the key elements of a data collection system and how to utilize the date to make decisions about programming

Increasing Learning Opportunities for Young Children with ASD in the Classroom: Structuring Play and Communication Opportunities

This training outlines strategies used to increase learning opportunities to promote play and communication skills in young children with ASD and related disabilities. Information will be provided to assist staff to individualize strategies for specific students as well as creating broad activities relevant to an entire class. A variety of strategies will be presented including scripted play, video modeling, reciprocal imitation, observational play, structuring play centers, organizing free play, peer training, manding, and more. The information for this presentation is drawn from the empirical literature on effective practices for young children with ASD, as well as direct experience in classrooms.  

Objectives:

• Learn strategies to structure play activities in early childhood classrooms to maximize the development of social-play skills 
• Identify important activities and times in the school-day when play skills can be taught and supported
• Learn specific methods to increase spontaneous requesting by students with ASD
• Create plans to improve learning opportunities for communication, social and play development in early childhood programs

Implementing Effective Practices in the Classroom: Developing a Viable Work Plan

This training will concentrate on the implementation of a comprehensive program to more effectively educate young children with ASD in a classroom setting. This presentation will expand beyond an understanding of content related to effective practices to focus on the implementation of knowledge in classroom settings. This training will concentrate on the barriers to implementation and the strategies needed to overcome barriers and implement strategies with fidelity. Various tools and strategies will be covered with a final work plan developed by each subteam.

Objectives:

• Review the effective practice literature and key components required to implement a comprehensive program for young children with ASD
• Understand the literature on implementation and fidelity
• Identify barriers within their own program that impede implementation of effective practices
• Utilize implementation and fidelity strategies to develop ways to monitor program and student progress
• Create a two year work plan to improve outcomes for young children with ASD in their program