Regional Coordination for Successful Autism Trainings for Principals, General

Education teachers and Special Education staff.

2014 Every Child Counts SymposiumMonterey

ACSA

Presenters:

• Elizabeth Leandres Vaughn; Senior Program Specialist, LACOE and Southwest SELPA.

• Bob Farran, SELPA Director, Southwest SELPA (retired); DirectEd Specialized Services, Inc.

Purpose of today's presentation:

• To discuss a local approach to providing trainings on Autism Spectrum Disorders in response to State Initiatives.

• To discuss how this local approach serves as a model for other initiatives.

• To provide samples and training materials on ASD as part of our dissemination process.

• To define the Los Angeles County Autism Spectrum Alliance (LACASA).

What led up to LACASA?

• California’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Autism• State Superintendent’s Advisory Committee

on Autism Spectrum Disorders• Department of Developmental Disabilities

ongoing study of the effectiveness of specific approaches.

• Significant increase in the number of children diagnosed with ASD.

Local Responses to the ASD Crisis

• Significant litigation across the state.• Perception that outside agencies often had

better information and knowledge than public school staff.

• Diagnostic Centers overwhelmed with the need for additional trainings.

• Little coordination of effort and specific groups not part of the training plans i.e. general education teachers, administrators

Existing groups that shared this need for additional trainings.

• Southern California Diagnostic Center• Regional Coordinating Council-• Regional 11 (left over from the RCC days but

still meeting monthly to coordinate trainings through-out the LA county region).

• Greater Los Angeles Area SELPAs-GLAAS: Monthly meeting of the 17 SELPA directors in Los Angeles County to discuss issues and jointly plan.

Goals of LACASA

• To be an interagency collaborations of the local stake holders: School, SELPAs, Dx Center, parents, Regional Centers, UCEDD.

• To develop training materials for selected populations that would be provided to all participating SELPAs to be disseminated to districts and staff.

• To provide face to face trainings as a model and to assure that materials were effective.

Who are the members?

• Diagnostic Center trainers• Board Certified Behavior

Analysts employed by districts/SELPAs.• Parents leaders• Westside Regional Center ASD staff.• USC University Center on Excellence in

Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD)• Key SELPA directors/ program specialists• Alternative Dispute Resolution mediator

Structure of LACASA

• Seen as a sub-committee of the Regional Coordinating Council and GLAAS (SELPA directors group) with a report from LACASA given at each of these monthly meetings.

• Each SELPA asked to “sign-off” on participation.

• Close coordination with Diagnostic Center with meetings typically held at their location.

Coordination with other initiatives overtime

• National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders– Key demonstration sites in Southwest SELPA and

East San Gabriel Valley SELPA.

• National Standards Project publication.

• Project Optimal, a local online training initiative from the Southwest SELPA.

Training plans

• Provide regional trainings in the county to “best the materials” and then disseminate the PowerPoint's and materials to SELPAS.

• State with special education teachers in a week long intensive training.

• Move to Administrators and then to general education teachers, two underserviced groups in terms of training priorities.

Implementation of Training Initiatives:

• Five Day Special Education Teacher Training

• Administrators’ Training

• General Education Teacher Training

Five Day Teacher Training

• Disability Awareness

• Introduction to Evidence Based Strategies– Applied Behavior Analysis– Visual Supports– Discrete Trial/Pivotal Response Training

• IEP/Compliance

What do the trainings cover?

• Samples of each session will be shown to the group during the sessions. The presenters will provide how to access specific copies of these trainings at the session.

• Special thanks to the various presenters for loaning their presentations.

Logistics

• 7 sessions offered across 3 years (2-3 sessions/year)

• Varied regional locations utilized– Los Angeles– Downey– San Fernando Valley

• Attended by members of 16 SELPAs, Regional Centers, Los Angeles County Office of Education, and Parents.

Administrators’ Training

• Understanding Autism Spectrum Disorder– Review of trends in special education

• Tools for working collaboratively with Staff and Families– Perspective taking (Yarn Activity)– Defining and understanding roles in the IEP

process

Logistics

• 4-6 half day trainings yearly (across 3 years)• Varied regionalized locations included– Pomona– Santa Clarita– Los Angeles

• Average of 18 districts represented per day (across am/pm sessions).

Changes in the Landscape

• National Professional Development Project– Research published on Evidence Based intervention– California Autism Professional Training And Information Network (CAPTAIN)

• Financial Climate– Fiscal impact of training on Districts– Timing and availability of trainings– Need for internalized capacity building

General Education Teacher Training

• Targets General Educators who teach students with Autism for a portion or all of their day.

• Featured topics:– What is Autism?– Behavior Strategies for the general education

Classroom– Regional Center– Parent Panel– Visual strategies/Supports– Accommodations and Modifications

Logistics

• 70-100 participants per session

• Range of 15-23 districts represented per session (including private schools, county office of education, and Charter schools)

• Consistently high attendance and feedback- addresses a training need not being directly targeted in other training initiatives.

Next Steps…

• Continued support for General Education Teachers

• Partnerships with LEA’s to build capacity– Trainer of trainer models– Use of technology to disseminate information– Ongoing review of data, adjustments to current

trainings, and development of new trainings to support efforts of other state agencies and intiatives

Using this approach as a model for other initiatives

• Collaborative models across regions improve access to trainings and lower costs for al involved.

• Model could be used for Mental Health initiatives; Common Core trainings or other large scale topics where lots of people need various levels of trainings.

• Local leadership is essential and Diagnostic Center participation most helpful and appreciated.

Questions and Comments

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