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A Meeting of Worlds: Multidisciplinary Teams in Autism Treatment
As Dr. Stephen Shore said, “if you’ve met one individual with autism, you’ve met one individual with autism.” Autism is a spectrum disorder with great variability in support needs from one person to the next. Given the spectrum of the disability, services and care for children with...
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Preparing School-Age Students for Post-Secondary Education
Preparing school-age students with autism for the transition into post-secondary education is perhaps as challenging for teachers as it is daunting for parents. According to a National Autism Indicators Report, “Young adults with autism have a difficult time following high school for almost any...
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Considerations for Choosing a College for Students on the Autism Spectrum
Choosing a college requires careful planning. This planning often starts in a student’s freshman year of high school, but usually not later than their sophomore year. When a student is on the autism spectrum, transition planning is a high priority, indeed it is required by law. The Individuals...
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Are Autistic Students Traumatized in Schools?
According to a 2017 study, “77% of autistic high school students play a very limited role or no role at all in post-secondary planning compared to 47 % of students with intellectual disabilities and 27% of students with all other disabilities” (Gillespie-Lynch, K. et al., 2017). Why do so...
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A Constructive Approach to Conflict for Better Educational Outcomes
Whether you are a parent, guardian, or educator, you have likely faced some sort of conflict involving a student. Conflicts took many shapes and sizes during my son’s special education school experience, and now as he attends college. Sometimes conflicts are with the people involved, other times...
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Reflection of a Former Defiant Preschooler
I was once an impudent preschooler who ignored clear directions. Or so I must have seemed to my teacher. My classmates and I were gathered around for an activity, the nature of which I cannot recall. I do remember that it involved the children being asked, one at a time and more or less at random,...
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The School Consultation Project: An Avenue to Support Autistic Students and Empower Educators
Autistic individuals who exhibit challenging behaviors are increasingly likely to hold communication deficits, require supports in daily routines, and are less likely to be placed in inclusive school settings (Lory et al., 2020; Iadarola et al., 2017). As such, challenging behaviors pose a...
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10 Tips to Help Autistic Kids Transition Back to In-Person School
Transitions are tough. As many schools make plans to shift from distance learning to in-person instruction, families, students, and educators face an adjustment period. That’s especially true for students with autism spectrum disorder, because transitions can be particularly stressful and...
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The Do’s and Don’ts of Supporting Autistic Students in Schools
As an autistic high school senior, I’ve spent my time in high school juggling 12 AP and IB classes while being a campus leader, whether it be as Vice President of the 60-member club I co-founded or as a cabinet member in an award-winning Science Olympiad team. I’ve also deeply invested myself...
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Innovations in Scaling Up the Use of Evidence-Based Practices in Public Schools
High quality implementation of evidence-based instructional and intervention strategies has been identified as critical for educators supporting autistic students. Using evidence-based practices (EBP) is required by policy (Every Student Succeeds Act [ESSA], 2015, and the Individuals with...
