Teams of approximately 8-10 individuals from a variety of disciplines will be trained. These will include family members, teachers, therapists, educational diagnosticians, educational assistants, administrators, and university students. The overall goal of the course is that trainees will increase their skills in the development of individualized educational programs for children with pervasive developmental disorder/autism.

Course will be presented in 8 - 3 hour Face-to-face sessions on consecutive weeks. A one week practicum of thirty five hours will be conducted following the 8 week sessions. Course will be presented using a problem based, learner centered approach. Cases will be developed around specific objectives. Teams will problem solve cases, determine how to use the resources within the group and will learn where to obtain additional resources as needed. Some outside research/reading time may be required.   Web discussion accompanying the face-to-face sessions is mandatory (unless previously arranged with project facilitator).  (Top)

- skills, knowledge and attitudes to be taught:

Respect for child with autism and their family

Respect for cultural and linguistic differences

Characteristics of autism/pervasive developmental disorders

Interdisciplinary teaming

Working with parents as full partners in process

Inclusion, public policy and service system

Formal and informal assessment

Programming

Positive behavior support      (Top)

By the end of the course, all participants will have completed the following objectives about children with autism/PDD:

Discussed a variety of children through case work

Relied upon group members for resource information

Reviewed resource material following learning issues

Participated in a variety of team building activities

Completed classroom or video assessment of child by observation

Discussed child’s learning style: what helps, what gets in the way, what interests and strengths may be present

Developed goals and objectives as appropriate

Developed instructional plan

Made adapted materials

Developed child life book on particular student

Worked collaboratively with parents to develop functional educational plan

Discussed the characteristics of autism/PDD of a variety of children

Learned the process of using questions to solve problems

Used computer for resources and for questions and answers      (Top)

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