best practices to consider when developing individualized...

Best Practices to Consider When Developing

Individualized Education Programs for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Pat Osbourn, MA, CCC/SLP Deputy Director, Center for Development &

Disability

The Autism Programs at the CDD

•  Autism Programs at the CDD, located in the Health Sciences Center

•  The CDD is a University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, Education, Research and Service and is part of a national network of Centers

Autism Programs

•  Current focus for the NM PED, Special Education Bureau: –  Project SET (Specialized Early Teaching) – provides

an early childhood institute, technical support and in classroom consultation for preschool programs that support students with ASD- Collaborative with NM FIT/DOH

–  Professional Development in ASD – provides a Summer Institute, in classroom consultation and the establishment of model sites based on the use of evidence based practices. Current sites (preschool, elementary, mid & high): Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe, Lovington – Each site has several classrooms

Background of Best Practice Guidance

•  Memo issued by Special Education Director, Denise Koscielniak on January 18, 2011

•  This memo outlines the 11 best practices to consider when IEP teams are developing programs for students with ASD


•  Resulted from work the Special Education Bureau completed in response to SJM 25, 2010 –  This Memorial requested the Public Education

Dept. to study ASD and determine how to provide best practice services to all children with autism in public schools.


•  Adapted from the Texas Education Agency, which through Texas legislative directives, developed the “Autism Supplement”

•  The Autism Supplement contained 11 considerations for IEP development for students with autism

•  Intent was that the Autism Supplement would “raise the bar” by challenging educators to improve programming for all students with ASD


•  NM PED/Special Education Bureau adoption provides districts with yes/no checklists

•  Aligns each checklist with existing NM PED resources such as: –  Provisions of Extended School Year Services for

Parents and Educators –  Identifying, Serving and Educating Students

with Autism Spectrum Disorders –  Developing Quality IEPs –  And others


•  Aligns with state IEP –  Following the Yes/No questionnaire, the

checklist provides IEP teams with •  Appropriate sections of IEP to Address

consideration •  Resources to support

Background of Guidance

•  Important points –  Guidance suggests best practice

considerations, not mandates –  Not all children with ASD will require all

considerations to be implemented –  Many of these considerations/strategies are

most likely already in IEPs –  A bill currently in session (SB 314) would

mandate the consideration of strategies not implementation strategies for all students with ASD; presently it is a guidance from the SEB

Eleven Considerations

–  Extended Educational Programming –  Daily Schedules reflecting minimal unstructured time and

active engagement in learning activities –  In-home/Community Based training or viable alternatives

to assist the student in social/behavioral skills –  Positive Behavior Support strategies –  Futures Planning –  Parent/Family Training and Support –  Staff-to-Student Ratio –  Communication interventions –  Social Skills Supports –  Professional Educator/Staff Support –  Teaching strategies based in peer reviewed/research

based practices

Extended Educational Programming

•  Does a review of data –  show that the student experiences significant

regression in adaptive/learned skills over regularly scheduled school breaks

–  show student requires a significant amount of time and effort to recoup previously learned skills

–  Indicate benefits to be derived from extended educational program outweigh the positive effects of summer vacation

•  Did the IEP team determine that ESY would best meet the needs of the students; why or why not

Daily Schedules

•  Does the student: –  Need assistance to adapt to daily schedule

changes such as transitioning from one environment to the other

–  React to changes in noise level within the same environment or transitioning to another setting

–  Need visual or physical cues to adjust to changes within the daily schedules

–  Need adult supervision for school drills

In-home and Community-based training

•  Does the child need a specific schedule and cues to adjust socially at home with family members

•  Does the parent/family have access to adequate resources to implement appropriate strategies to foster social/behavioral skills

•  Does the family need assistance to support transition process from home to school or school to home.

If yes, what agency was the parent referred to – this would be documented under interagency linkages in the IEP

•  Ideas for family support in this area: social stories, video modeling, etc.

Positive Behavior Support Strategies

•  Is the student unable to follow the school wide rules and discipline plan •  Is the student unable to follow classroom rules •  Does the student:

–  Have a difficult time understanding the consequence of his/her behavior –  Need visual/physical cues to replace behaviors that are socially inappropriate –  Require consistent implementation of reinforcement strategies to achieve

specific social behaviors –  Display a pattern of socially inappropriate behaviors within a specific time of

the day or environment –  Display a pattern of positive behaviors after the implementation of specific

behavior modification strategies •  Does a Functional Behavior Assessment need to be developed to address

the behaviors in question •  Does a Behavior Intervention Plan need to be developed based upon the

FBA.

Futures Planning (beginning at any age)

•  Does the student need assistance with resources to transition to post secondary environments and/or daily living skills within the community?

•  Does the family have access to resources regarding transition from daily home life to daily life within the community?

Identify and document the specific resources and linkages needed to meet.

Parent/Family Training & Support

•  Does the family have access to a qualified organization with qualified staff to assist with the acquisition of appropriate social/behavioral skills

•  Are the resources provided diversified in nature to foster consistent implementation of appropriate strategies to address social/behavioral skills

•  Does the training provide for consistency between environments

•  Ideas for Family Support: social stories to assist with transitions, communication notebook between school and home

Staff to Student Ratio

•  Is the student participating in a research based program that requires intensive interventions from the school personnel

•  Does the student need assistance to adapt to daily schedule changes such as transitioning from one environment to another

•  Does the student react to changes in noise levels within the same environment or transitioning to another environment

•  Does the student need visual or physical cues, including those initiated by educational staff to adjust to changes within daily schedule

•  Does the student need adult supervision for school drills

Communication Interventions

•  Does the student –  Need access to assistive technology –  Behavior improve with the use of assistive

technology –  Behavior worsen with the use of assistive

technology –  Require speech/language services

•  Is the use of assistive technology necessary across settings

•  Has the student tried a picture based system •  Basic Question: Does the student have a

communication system – verbal, picture, voice output assistive tech, gestural?

Social Skills

•  Does the student –  Have a difficult time interacting with peers or

joining a play group/game –  Have trouble working with peers in a small

group or group of peers in classroom –  Have difficulty generalizing appropriate social

behavior from one setting to another –  Prefer to be by themselves in a social setting

or classroom

•  Could the student benefit from a social skills curriculum

Professional Educator/Staff Support & Teaching Strategies based on research

based practives •  Do the staff working with student have general training about

autism and strategies to implement the IEP •  Does the teaching and support staff have access to research

based practices to support the implementation of a student’s IEP

•  Does the teaching and support staff have access to assistive technologies to support the implementation of student’s IEP

•  Does the school site have access to research based practices/teaching strategies to support the implementation of positive behavioral systems/social skills training

Summer Institute in Albuquerque to present evidence based practices presented by Autism Programs and school district partners with support from the NM PED

Additional Resources

•  Navigating Autism Services in New Mexico •  Available to districts at no cost, is currently

being translated into Spanish •  Has specific resources for Birth to 5, 5-13, 13 –

21 and Adult •  Covers parent organizations, respite, post

secondary information, recreation, CDD Info Network

•  Request through Autism Programs/CDD Send requests to the Autism Programs, at

1-800-270-1861

Additional Resources

•  National Professional Development Center on ASD – OSEP sponsored project; identified 23 evidenced based practices and worked with states to implement – New Mexico in pilot group

•  http://autismpdc.fpg.unc.edu/ –  Autism Internet Modules –  Evidenced based practice briefs

•  Overview •  Evidence base •  Steps for implementation •  Implementation checklist

•  Questions? •  Thanks to the NM PED/Special Education

Bureau under the leadership of Denise Koscielniak for authoring the guidance and supporting documents.

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