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National Autism Resources strives to provide the tools necessary to help learners build skills in fun and engaging ways; helping students understand classroom expectations, manage emotions, and support students' ability to focus. There may be valuable resources available for me to purchase that can help me provide more effective education for my students with autism, and all my students in general.

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Special Ed Curriculum, Visual Supports & More: National Autism Resources

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Shop our online store for the visual supports, sensory tools, social skills curriculum you need for your students with autism.

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The National Education Association aims to advocate for professionals in education in order to prepare every student to succeed in the world; centered by a belief that every student in America deserves a quality education. The guide linked in this Padlet contains resources to help professionals working with students with autism focus on their strengths, strategize to address their challenges, and offer advice to provide individualized support. The strategies in this guide will not only help me reach my students with autism, but each of my students as I try to prepare them for the real world after high school.

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www.nea.org needs to review the security of your connection before proceeding.

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Evidence based practices are paramount when it comes to supporting students with autism in the classroom, and The What Works Clearinghouse can help me identify EBPs for students across academic subjects. Specifically, there are EBPs available for literacy instruction, english language learners, k12 education, teacher excellence, path to graduation, behavior, and postsecondary endeavors. This will be a good website to reference as I plan lessons and activities for students with autism.

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As an initiative of the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) was created in 2002 to be a central and trusted source of scientific evidence for what works in education.

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The Autism Science Foundation, nonprofit started in 2009, seeks to support research in autism by providing funding and other supports for scientists or organizations conducting and publicizing this research. They have extensive research and resources on diagnosis criteria for autism, treatment options, and I believe this resource specifically would be great for my own students to interact with, as the website is easy to navigate and the information is easily accessible and understandable for public readers.

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ASF grant will enable PEERbots to expand to iOS and develop user-friendly applications for the autism community NEW YORK - October 13, 2020 - The Autism Science Foundation (ASF), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to funding autism research, today announced that it has awarded a grant to PEERbots, a nonprofit organization that develops social robot puppet [...]

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The Autism Society seeks to connect people with the services they need through education, advocacy, support, information and referral, and community programming; providing resources for the autism community in order to help them live a fulfilling life; connecting them with the evidence-based services and support they need. This website has multiple facets that can engage students in activism and taking action to support efforts to make the lives of people with autism more equitable and fulfilling.

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Autism Society Creating connections for the Autism community to live fully.

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We create connections, empowering everyone in the Autism community with the resources needed to live fully.

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A highly credible source, the Center for Disease Control has curated information and resources available regarding diagnostic evaluations for ASD, medical information, core characteristics of autism, co-occurring conditions, and DSM-5 criteria.  The CDC aims to "provide essential data on ASD, search for factors that put children at risk for ASD and possible causes, and develop resources that help identify children with ASD as early as possible." The research and treatment services available will be useful as I approach my career and begin working with students who have autism, as they will provide me with a better means of supporting my students with ASD.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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What are the key elements of your discussion with Billy's mother?

When you are discussing your concerns with a family it is often helpful to give specific examples of your concerns (e.g., poor eye contact, lack of joint attention). It is also important to emphasize good skills the child is exhibiting (e.g., "Billy seems to be very attached to you. I'm glad to hear he has been making progress since he started therapy.")

Explain the importance of further evaluation and arriving at a diagnosis. It is also important to acknowledge the parents' worries. Many parents do not want their child to be "labeled" and may be hesitant to have a diagnosis given. Explain that having a specific diagnosis helps ensure their child will receive appropriate therapies and interventions.

It is important to refer the child for early intervention services as soon as ASD or other developmental disability is suspected. Educate the family on the importance and benefits of starting therapy as early as possible without creating undue panic or alarm.

Find out what the family knows about ASD. It is usually helpful to explain that ASD is a spectrum and that no two children will have exactly the same characteristics. Each child will have his or her own individual strengths and weaknesses and a child may need more support in some areas than others.

Give the family literature on ASD and direct them to resources available in the area.

Answer any questions the family may have and be available if they have questions in the future.

Emphasize that children with ASD do continue to have warm relationships. It is important for families to have a balance of reality and optimism.

See the Communicating Concerns: Screening and Diagnosis Results for more detailed information.

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What are the key elements of your discussion with Billy's mother? When you are discussing your concerns with a family it is often helpful to give specific examples of your concerns (e.g., poor eye contact, lack of joint attention). It is also important to emphasize good skills the child is exhibiting (e.g., "Billy seems to be very attached to you.

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The Child Mind Institute aims to change the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by providing them with evidence-based care, educational resources, training for educators, and treatments. This particular resource would be good to suggest to parents, so they can be assured that the assessments their children receive are doing the work to help students grow and develop interpersonal and social skills. This resource will also be valuable for me to reference as I create assessments for my own students with autism or other developmental disorders.

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An autism diagnosis covers a spectrum of children with a wide range of skills and impairments. Because of this, the developmental disorder can look very different from child to child. Many experts who diagnose and treat children with autism like to say, "If you've seen one child with autism, you've seen one child with autism."

The diversity of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can make it difficult to correctly diagnose. Sometimes autistic children are mistakenly diagnosed with a different disorder, like ADHD, or are told that nothing is wrong. Other times kids are diagnosed as autistic when they actually aren't.

That's why it's important for parents to know what the components of an autism diagnosis should be: What kinds of information should a clinician who's evaluating your child be considering? How can you know whether your clinician is following best practices in doing an autism assessment?

Social communication issues

Problems in social communication and social interaction are often what are flagged as possible signs of autism, and that's one source of confusion. "There are a lot of things that can cause social problems," points out Susan Epstein, PhD, a neuropsychologist. "There are subtle language disorders that can masquerade as autism. Or other disorders, particularly when they appear in clusters - ADHD, learning disorders, depression."

If a child is having trouble with formulating phrases or sentences, for example, that can create a situation that might at first glance look like a sign of autism, but could have other causes. "The child has trouble communicating, which causes problems with peers, so the child might become withdrawn. It looks like they're having social problems, and they are, but it's of a different nature," explains Dr. Epstein.

Arriving at the right diagnosis requires gathering and interpreting a lot of information about the child. Dr. Epstein, who specializes in evaluating autism spectrum disorder, recommends that children should receive an assessment that goes beyond screening and diagnostic tools to get the fullest possible picture of what is going on before making a diagnosis.

There are a variety of screeners that pediatricians or other practitioners might employ as a first step to learning if a child might have autism, before beginning a formal evaluation. Some are questionnaires that parents fill out and others are assessments done by clinicians. The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers, or M-CHAT, is one questionnaire that is used to identify red flags. The M-CHAT asks questions about behaviors that might indicate autism, but Dr. Epstein warns that the test purposefully "casts a very broad net," so it often flags children who may or may not be autistic. Similar scales include the Childhood Autism Rating Scale and the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, which is more of a basic developmental screener.

The Screening Tool for Autism in Toddlers and Young Children, or STAT, is another screener that probes for autism symptom behaviors in more detail than the other screeners mentioned, but is still intended to be used as a tool to catch children who are candidates for further evaluation. Screener results alone should never be considered a diagnosis.

Diagnostic instruments

If a screener indicates that a child may have autism spectrum disorder, the child should receive a comprehensive evaluation from someone trained in diagnosing autism.

This evaluation will often begin with a diagnostic instrument such as the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, or the ADOS-2. The ADOS is a test with different modules to accommodate a range of children. There is a version for toddlers that is play-based. For kids older than thirty months, there are modules that include more conversation, according to the child's language level.

This isn't the kind of test where there are right answers. The purpose of the ADOS is to evaluate the social skills and repetitive behaviors the child displays during the test. This means the evaluator is paying attention to things like if the child asks for help when he needs it, gives other people a chance to speak, and follows along with changes of subject.

The Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (CSBS) is another good diagnostic instrument for toddlers and young children. This play-based instrument is also backed by research, but is used less than the ADOS, which covers a broader age range.

Problems with interpretation

Dr. Epstein notes that even with these tools it is important to be working with a mental health professional who has experience diagnosing people on the autism spectrum. "You want to be working with someone who understands the subtleties," she says. "For example, a person who has real expertise will be able to distinguish if a child has poor eye contact because the child is shy, versus if there is poor eye contact in the way we expect to see it in an autism spectrum disorder."

A recent study underscores the difficulty in distinguishing between autism and other disorders, like ADHD, using even gold-standard tools like ADOS. Looking at school age kids with high verbal functioning, the study found that found that 21% of children with ADHD-but not autism-met diagnostic criteria for autism when given the ADOS.

"The minute that we diagnose blindly based on score, we're going to misplace a lot of kids into categories," lead researcher Somer Bishop, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, tells Spectrum, an online journal on autism research. "These instruments were designed to assist in clinical decision-making, but they are not a replacement for a clinical brain."

Catherine Lord, director of the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, who developed the ADOS, adds that it's important to consider the motivation for the behavior. A child with ADHD might avoid an adult's gaze because he thinks he has done something wrong, she tells Spectrum, rather than because of a social deficit. Or, a child's face might be unexpressive because she is bored or distracted, not because she is less expressive in general.

Screeners and diagnostic tools are ways of gathering information, but they have to be considered in the context of other information from a range of adults who know the child. A full evaluation should also include a thorough interview with the child's parents that covers general development and current concerns. The interview will also closely investigate ASD-related symptoms. To gather more information, parents might be asked to fill out special questionnaires as well.

The Autism Diagnostic Interview, Revised (or ADI-R) is one such interview, and is often paired with the ADOS. However the ADI-R takes two hours to provide, making it difficult to use in clinical assessments, Dr. Epstein notes. An interview based on the ADI-R or a parent checklist, such as the Social Communication Questionnaire, can also be effective if it is led by a clinician trained in diagnosing autism.

Dr. Epstein explains that it is important to include early developmental information during the interview, because there are many circumstances where symptoms are more obvious earlier, say at around four years of age, but diminish as the child grows. "If you aren't attending to that early development and you have an eight or ten year old, for example, you're going to risk really missing out," she warns. Having that information about early development can help the provider make a more accurate diagnosis.

If the child is of school age, it is also helpful if the practitioner can speak to the child's teacher to get their point of view, too. A school visit to observe the child would be "absolutely ideal," says Dr. Epstein, but not always possible. A conversation with the teacher, or having the teacher fill out a questionnaire, will give the person doing the evaluation some insight into what the teacher is seeing firsthand at school, which may be different from what parents are seeing at home.

An assessment should also include some amount of cognitive testing. One reason for this is that cognitive testing gives the person doing the assessment another chance to examine the child's behavior, but this time under different circumstances. The ADOS is a socially loaded test that is also less structured, which might be difficult for some kids. Dr. Epstein explains that some kids will do better during a more structured cognitive test when they are answering specific questions. "Or maybe they will get upset during the cognitive testing if they don't know the answer to a particular question, and they might have a tantrum," says Dr. Epstein. All of this information is helpful for the person doing the evaluation.

The cognitive testing is also important because you want to learn more about how the child thinks - for example you want to learn more about how the child organizes and plans, or solves problems. Beyond helping the evaluator in making an accurate diagnosis, Dr. Epstein explains, "If you don't know their strengths and weaknesses, you can't really contribute meaningfully to building an educational program for them at school. You want to be able to say, 'He can do this; he can't do that; this is what he needs to be able to do that.' "

Working with an autism specialist

Screeners are often given by pediatricians, but if there are red flags that indicate further evaluation would be appropriate, it is best to work with someone who has both experience and expertise in diagnosing children on the autism spectrum. "You're not going to go to a doctor for a heart transplant who's done two or three, right?" says Dr. Epstein. "It's the same with autism. You want someone who's seen hundreds of kids with all different stripes - typical children, intellectually disabled children, autistic children - and knows what to look for." Academic and medical centers are often good places to find experienced diagnosticians.

Parents can ask some questions to try to gauge a potential provider's experience. For example:

What's your training and experience?

Have you had specific training in assessment of people on the spectrum? How much?

What do you plan to do as part of this assessment?

Will you be contacting my child's teacher or pediatrician?

Try to find a practitioner who is able to answer your questions readily and makes you feel comfortable. A clinician who takes your concerns seriously and is experienced in assessing autism spectrum disorder is essential to getting an accurate diagnosis.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is autism diagnosed?

How do you test for autism?

What is ADOS testing?

How do you get a child tested for autism?

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What Should an Evaluation for Autism Look Like? - Child Mind Institute

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An autism diagnosis covers a spectrum of children with a wide range of skills and impairments. Because of this, the developmental disorder can look very different from child to child. Many experts who diagnose and treat children with autism like to say, "If you've seen one child with autism, you've seen one child with autism."

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Often is the case that people with autism have comorbidities; having two or more medical conditions present in one person simultaneously. The Autism Community Training organization aims to provide information and training that supports children and adults with ASD to live productive and fulfilling lives within their families and communities. This link specifically provides insight about how to best support children and youth with autism and comorbid conditions. This will be a great reference for when I begin teaching and am tasked to work with students who have comorbidities.

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This page has been designed to support Webinar 2 Looking Beyond Autism: Treating Anxiety, Depression and OCD in Children and Youth with ASD.

The previous webinar, Recognizing Mental Health Disorders, focused on raising awareness of ASD; higher incidences of mental health conditions among children and adults with ASD; Behavior Analysts and the mental health team; eligible services from Children and Youth Mental Health teams or from Development Disability Mental Health Teams.

Page Index

Video: Introduction - Deborah Pugh

Video: Anxiety - Melanie McConnell

Presenter: Melanie McConnell, PhD, RPsych in Neuropsychiatry, BC Children's Hospital Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry; Clinical Investigator, Child and Family Research Institute; Clinical Instructor, UBC Developmental Disorders Program

Children and youth with ASD are at an increased risk for developing anxiety, which often exacerbates core autism symptoms. The anxiety can interfere with social development, life skills, academic achievement and relationships. Anxiety symptoms are often incorrectly attributed to ASD, and this diagnostic overshadowing is a barrier to accessing treatment.

Resources from the presentation

Chalfant (2012). Managing Anxiety in People with Autism

Davis & White (2014). Handbook of Autism and Anxiety

Reaven, Blakley-Smith, & Nichols (2011). Facing Your Fears: Group Therapy for Managing Anxiety in Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders

McGuire et al (2016). Irritability and Problem Behavior in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Practice Pathway for Pediatric Primary Care. Pediatrics, 137 (2).

Van Steensel, F. J. A., Bögels, S. M., & Perrin, S. (2011). Anxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents with Autistic Spectrum Disorders: A Meta-Analysis. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 14(3), 302-317.

Vasa et al. (2016). Assessment and Treatment of Anxiety in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Pediatrics, 137 (2).

Additional Resources

Video: OCD - David Worling

Presenter: Dr. David Worling, RPsych, Clinical Director, Westcoast Child Development Group

In distinguishing between typical OCD features and more typical ASD features, there is a need to take into account: emotional valence of the thoughts and compulsions; content of the obsessions and compulsions; function of the obsessive-compulsive behaviors and patterns of restrictive and repetitive behaviors.

Resources from the presentation:

Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale in Autism Spectrum Disorder (CYBOCS-ASD) (Scahill et. al., 2014)

What is OCD? Canadian Mental Health Association

Understand the Facts: OCD. Anxiety and Depression Association of America

Additional Resources

Video: Depression - Anthony Bailey

Presenter: Professor Anthony Bailey, Ph.D., Chair Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of British Columbia.

Video: Panelist Georgina Robinson

Video: Panelist David Batstone

Video: Questions and Answers

Screening and Assessment

Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Key modifications for ASD include: parents as "coach" or co-therapist; increase visual supports and hands-on activities; use modelling/practice/repetition to support generalization; incorporate special interests; provide positive reinforcement/rewards; address underlying skills deficits.

Community Resources

OMHAP Project Looking Beyond Autism

Video and resources from Webinar 1: Recognising Mental Health Disorders
Contact ACT for more information or search the AID for more resources.
Learning Objectives - Treating Anxiety, Depression and OCD:

Identify specific environmental changes important in the reduction of precipitating and maintaining factors for mental health disorders.

Employ specific techniques to approach diagnosis and care of children and youth with developmental issues co-morbid with common mental health disorders.

Describe and distinguish the available treatment options, including the associated benefits, limitations and risks of specific medications for treating core symptoms of ASD.

Recognize the importance of cognitive behavioral approaches to treating anxiety, depression and OCD in ASD, with modifications.

Access and utilize resources and tools to support care of children and youth with developmental issues and mental health disorders in a primary care setting.

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Looking Beyond Autism: Treating Anxiety, Depression and OCD in Children and Youth with ASD

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This page has been designed to support Webinar 2 Looking Beyond Autism: Treating Anxiety, Depression and OCD in Children and Youth with ASD. The previous webinar, Recognizing Mental Health Disorders, focused on raising awareness of ASD; higher incidences of mental health conditions among children and adults with ASD;

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Autism Speaks provides information regarding the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder's "diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder and the related diagnosis of social communication disorder below". Rather than navigating the full text of the DSM-5, Autism Speaks has provided a quick reference to the descriptions of criteria for ASD and related social communication disorders. This would be a good reference to have if I needed to provide credible and accessible information about autism to students or individuals.

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What are the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for autism?

In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association released the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).

The DSM-5 is now the standard reference that healthcare providers use to diagnose mental and behavioral conditions, including autism.

By special permission of the American Psychiatric Association, you can read the full-text of the new diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder and the related diagnosis of social communication disorder below.
Also see: Answers to frequently asked questions about DSM-5 criteria for autism A. Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts, as manifested by the following, currently or by history (examples are illustrative, not exhaustive, see text):
DSM-5 Autism Diagnostic Criteria

1. Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, ranging, for example, from abnormal social approach and failure of normal back-and-forth conversation; to reduced sharing of interests, emotions, or affect; to failure to initiate or respond to social interactions.

2. Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction, ranging, for example, from poorly integrated verbal and nonverbal communication; to abnormalities in eye contact and body language or deficits in understanding and use of gestures; to a total lack of facial expressions and nonverbal communication.

3. Deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships, ranging, for example, from difficulties adjusting behavior to suit various social contexts; to difficulties in sharing imaginative play or in making friends; to absence of interest in peers.

B. Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities, as manifested by at least two of the following, currently or by history (examples are illustrative, not exhaustive; see text):
Specify current severity: Severity is based on social communication impairments and restricted repetitive patterns of behavior. (See table below.)

1. Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech (e.g., simple motor stereotypies, lining up toys or flipping objects, echolalia, idiosyncratic phrases).

2. Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualized patterns or verbal nonverbal behavior (e.g., extreme distress at small changes, difficulties with transitions, rigid thinking patterns, greeting rituals, need to take same route or eat food every day).

3. Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus (e.g, strong attachment to or preoccupation with unusual objects, excessively circumscribed or perseverative interest).

4. Hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interests in sensory aspects of the environment (e.g., apparent indifference to pain/temperature, adverse response to specific sounds or textures, excessive smelling or touching of objects, visual fascination with lights or movement).

C. Symptoms must be present in the early developmental period (but may not become fully manifest until social demands exceed limited capacities or may be masked by learned strategies in later life). D. Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning. E. These disturbances are not better explained by intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder) or global developmental delay. Intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder frequently co-occur; to make comorbid diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability, social communication should be below that expected for general developmental level.
Specify current severity: Severity is based on social communication impairments and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior. (See table below.)

Note: Individuals with a well-established DSM-IV diagnosis of autistic disorder, Asperger's disorder, or pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified should be given the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Individuals who have marked deficits in social communication, but whose symptoms do not otherwise meet criteria for autism spectrum disorder, should be evaluated for social (pragmatic) communication disorder.

Specify if:

With or without accompanying intellectual impairment

With or without accompanying language impairment
(Coding note: Use additional code to identify the associated medical or genetic condition.)

Associated with another neurodevelopmental, mental, or behavioral disorder
(Coding note: Use additional code[s] to identify the associated neurodevelopmental, mental, or behavioral disorder[s].)

With catatonia

Associated with a known medical or genetic condition or environmental factor

Table: Severity levels for autism spectrum disorder

Level 3
"Requiring very substantial support"

Severe deficits in verbal and nonverbal social communication skills cause severe impairments in functioning, very limited initiation of social interactions, and minimal response to social overtures from others. For example, a person with few words of intelligible speech who rarely initiates interaction and, when he or she does, makes unusual approaches to meet needs only and responds to only very direct social approaches

Inflexibility of behavior, extreme difficulty coping with change, or other restricted/repetitive behaviors markedly interfere with functioning in all spheres. Great distress/difficulty changing focus or action.

Level 2
"Requiring substantial support"

Marked deficits in verbal and nonverbal social communication skills; social impairments apparent even with supports in place; limited initiation of social interactions; and reduced or abnormal responses to social overtures from others. For example, a person who speaks simple sentences, whose interaction is limited to narrow special interests, and how has markedly odd nonverbal communication.

Inflexibility of behavior, difficulty coping with change, or other restricted/repetitive behaviors appear frequently enough to be obvious to the casual observer and interfere with functioning in a variety of contexts. Distress and/or difficulty changing focus or action.

Level 1
"Requiring support"

Without supports in place, deficits in social communication cause noticeable impairments. Difficulty initiating social interactions, and clear examples of atypical or unsuccessful response to social overtures of others. May appear to have decreased interest in social interactions. For example, a person who is able to speak in full sentences and engages in communication but whose to- and-fro conversation with others fails, and whose attempts to make friends are odd and typically unsuccessful.

Inflexibility of behavior causes significant interference with functioning in one or more contexts. Difficulty switching between activities. Problems of organization and planning hamper inde

Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder
A. Persistent difficulties in the social use of verbal and nonverbal communication as manifested by all of the following:
Diagnostic Criteria
B. The deficits result in functional limitations in effective communication, social participation, social relationships, academic achievement, or occupational performance, individually or in combination. C. The onset of the symptoms is in the early developmental period (but deficits may not become fully manifest until social communication demands exceed limited capacities). D. The symptoms are not attributable to another medical or neurological condition or to low abilities in the domains or word structure and grammar, and are not better explained by autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder), global developmental delay, or another mental disorder.

1. Deficits in using communication for social purposes, such as greeting and sharing information, in a manner that is appropriate for the social context.

2. Impairment of the ability to change communication to match context or the needs of the listener, such as speaking differently in a classroom than on the playground, talking differently to a child than to an adult, and avoiding use of overly formal language.

3. Difficulties following rules for conversation and storytelling, such as taking turns in conversation, rephrasing when misunderstood, and knowing how to use verbal and nonverbal signals to regulate interaction.

4. Difficulties understanding what is not explicitly stated (e.g., making inferences) and nonliteral or ambiguous meanings of language (e.g., idioms, humor, metaphors, multiple meanings that depend on the context for interpretation).

DSM-5 and Autism: Frequently Asked Questions
For more information

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Autism Diagnosis Criteria: DSM-5 | Autism Speaks

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In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association released the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). The DSM-5 is now the standard reference that healthcare providers use to diagnose mental and behavioral conditions, including autism.

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Social and communication skills, and interpersonal intelligence are central in interacting with others in a productive and or fulfilling manner, and I think it is important that all my students have positive social experiences while learning in the classroom.  Social Thinking Training and Speakers Collaborative is a network/team of professionals with backgrounds as teachers, clinicians, and counselors; who strive to provide others with "evidence based information and practical strategies for parents, professionals, family members, children/students as well as adults living with social learning challenges to be used in schools, homes, the community as well as across work settings". Not only would this be beneficial for my understanding of implementing social skills development in my classroom, but I could share this with my fellow teachers and school professionals, as well as the parents of my own students. Additionally, this group provides professional development conferences; sharing strategies to support social skills and learning across contexts.

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Helping over 1 million educators, clinicians and families around the world. Strategies to teach essential life skills including social emotional learning and self-regulation across all environments.

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PBS Learning Media has free, standard-aligned videos, professional development opportunities, lesson plans, and various multimodal texts about autism, and other topics across disciplines and interests; all of which would be helpful in planning and outlining a conceptual unit plan for teaching a high school English class. Additionally, these multimodal texts will be helpful in my continued learning and understanding of autism spectrum disorder, and helpful in developing my own students' understanding of ASD. Curating classroom activities that align with state standards will also be streamlined through these teaching resources.

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PBS LearningMedia | Teaching Resources For Students And Teachers

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Inspire your students with thousands of free teaching resources including videos, lesson plans, and games aligned to state and national standards.

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The educational foundation, Edutopia, created by George Lucas (Star Wars), is a foundation dedicated to transforming K-12 education so that all students can learn and apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills that are central to thrive in their studies, career, and adult lives. This foundation offers teaching strategies in assessment, interdisciplinary studies, project based learning, professional learning, technology integration, and social and emotional learning. The social and emotional learning resources will be especially critical for me to reference when working with students with ASD. This specific link provides twenty tips for creating positive relationships with family, which will be paramount to my tool kit as I aim to work with parents or guardians to best support my students.

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20 Tips for Developing Positive Relationships With Parents

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Blogger Elena Aguilar shares 20 tips to help teachers better connect with parents.

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The Cult of Pedagogy is an organization ran by a team of people who are passionate about teaching, pedagogy, and education, and who seek to support teachers. This is almost a sort of a social media-esque hub of information valuable for teachers; offering blog posts about "the art of teaching, theory and thinking behind practice, and discussions about the emotions of teaching; acknowledging how complex actual human beings can be". There are podcasts delving into teacher interviews, learning experts, parents' perspectives, and other advocates for education. They also offer teaching demonstrations, technology in the classroom demonstrations, classroom management tips, and teaching advice. This article in particular offers some critical insight into the effectiveness and significance of Universal Design of Learning (UDL); which will be important to reference throughout my teaching career.

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Listen to the interview with Katie Novak and Mirko Chardin:
Sponsored by Hapara and Kiddom

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. When you make a purchase through these links,
Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.

As a teacher, I loved the annual PTO teacher appreciation breakfast: tablecloths featuring pencils, hearts, and shiny red apples, bouquets of pink mini carnations, and a coffee and tea cart fit for a barista. And the buffet! Like mead halls of yore, long banquet tables were lined with fruit salad, homemade quiches, scrambled eggs, miso soup, and gallo pinto. Bagels, croissants, chapattis, and churros sat atop a bread table. Little folded cards identified casseroles that were gluten-free or vegan. Options for everyone! I wanted to sample every single one.

A school down the street didn't have it so good. Their breakfast served a single option-a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich on a biscuit. No substitutions.

Now, I personally love a good ol' brekkie sammy, but it certainly won't meet everyone's needs. Some staff members may be vegetarian, lactose-intolerant, or gluten-free. Some may be watching their waistlines. And some will just think that the sandwich is G.R.O.S.S. We all can predict the outcome. Many will leave hungry, frustrated, and needless to say- un appreciated.

The bacon/egg/cheese saga represents the one-size-fits-all scenarios we often see in our classrooms: Every student is expected to read the same book at the same pace, listen to the same lectures, and complete the same math problems using the same materials. These inflexible solutions expect compliance and favor students who don't face significant barriers to traditional learning. Many of the "tried and true" techniques and curriculum in classrooms perpetuate privilege rather than focusing on learning, autonomy, and empowerment.

When we design the same learning pathways for all learners, we might tell ourselves we are being fair, but in fact, single pathways are exclusionary. Beverly Daniel Tatum, author of the critically acclaimed book, Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race, challenges us to focus on impact over intentions. It may not be our intent to exclude our learners, but the reality is that many students do not have opportunities to learn at high levels or to access curriculum and instruction that is accessible, engaging, culturally sustaining, and linguistically appropriate.

Luckily, there is a framework that rejects these one-size-fits-all solutions and empowers educators to proactively design learning experiences so all students can increase their brainpower and accelerate and own their learning. The framework is Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

UDL is a framework for designing learning experiences so students have options for how they learn, what materials they use, and how they demonstrate their learning. When implemented with a lens of equity, the framework has the potential to eliminate opportunity gaps that exclude many learners, especially those who have been historically marginalized. If we want all students to have equal opportunities to learn, we have to be incredibly purposeful, proactive, and flexible. UDL creates a learning environment that is the least restrictive and most culturally responsive, trauma-informed environment for all students.

CORE BELIEFS OF UDL

This work begins with asset-based beliefs about students and the power of design to eliminate barriers. A UDL Practitioner believes:

Variability is the rule, not the exception. Students may need to learn in different ways, using different materials, and share what they have learned in different ways to reach the same goals.

All students can work toward the same firm goals and grade-level standards when provided with adequate challenge and support.

All students will become expert learners if barriers are removed and they are given opportunities to self-differentiate.

Belief 1: Variability

Variability is the unique mix of skills, interests, needs, and preferences each and every learner brings to the classroom. Variability goes beyond differences between students and explores differences within students, based on context. Because of variability, what students need is ever-changing and evolving. So providing options for students to reflect on the barriers they are facing and choose pathways that best meet their needs is critical to build self-awareness and expert learning.

In traditional instruction, many educators attempt to define how students learn with one-dimensional labels. For example, many educators will ask me, "What does UDL look like for English language learners/black and brown students/students with disabilities?" My answer is always the same, "The students in those groups are not the same and they don't need one-size-fits-all solutions."

Let's connect back to the breakfast buffet. Imagine you are labeled as a member of the "vegan group." As a result, every day you and the other vegans have plates set aside for you with sliced tomatoes and plain oatmeal. Here's the thing-not all vegans like or eat the same thing. You will want choices too and you will likely make different decisions depending on the day, your mood, and how your tummy feels. Intrapersonal variability matters just as much as interpersonal variability. And if none of the foods work for you, you will definitely need an opportunity to share what you need.

Belief 2: Firm Goals, Flexible Means

Every student can learn at high levels. When creating a universally designed learning experience, educators should ask themselves: "At the end of this lesson, unit, or professional development series, what do my learners have to know or what do they need to be able to do?" Once you identify the firm goal, ask yourself, "Based on the variability in my class, what barriers may prevent learners from working toward that goal and how can I eliminate those barriers through design?"

For example, if the firm goal is "Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence," you may predict that some students will struggle with organization. Worry not! You can create a buffet with flexible means to support learners. If you proactively provide a graphic organizer, an annotated exemplar with notes about organization, a resource that includes words, phrases, and clauses to help clarify the relationships among claim(s) and reasons, and the opportunity to sign up for small group instruction on organization, you can empower students to choose what they need to organize their writing.

Belief 3: Expert Learning

In his book, Learning to Choose, Choosing to Learn, author Mike Anderson discusses the concept of incorporating student choice into every lesson. Many educators are afraid of handing over the reins to their students, believing they won't make the best choices. The truth is they are right to be afraid; students may make poor choices about their learning, particularly when they are first given this power.

For example, a student may choose to work in a group with his friends in which he becomes distracted instead of working alongside the teacher, where he would have been more successful. But the evaluation of that choice is where the real teaching moment comes into play. Through Anderson's "choose, do, review" method, teachers transition their roles to the facilitator and can provide feedback that guides students to understand and self-evaluate their choices, determine what works for them and what doesn't, and give them opportunities to make better choices in the future and provide feedback about learning design.

If students don't have these opportunities to "choose, do, review" their way to expert learning, they will become what Zaretta Hammond has coined as "dependent learners." Dependent learners are overly reliant on the teacher to carry the load of cognitive tasks and are unsure of how to tackle new tasks because they aren't given opportunities to learn how to be expert learners.

UDL IN ACTION

Imagine this scene in a 6th-grade health classroom: Students are sitting quietly at their desks. The learning target written on the board notes that students will identify ways to reduce their risk of spreading or contracting communicable disease. The agenda outlines classroom activities: (1) watch a CDC video and (2) write an essay on how to reduce the risk of spreading and contracting COVID-19. The lesson is aligned to grade-level standards and features a high quality resource, so what is the problem? The learning experience will not meet the needs of all students because it is one-size-fits-all, so let's give it the UDL treatment. For a lesson to truly be "universally designed," it must meet the following criteria:

Provide Multiple Means of Engagement

Learners differ in the ways they can be engaged or motivated to learn. Because there is not one means of engagement that will be optimal for all learners; providing options to build interest and commitment is essential. At the beginning of the class, the teacher projects a list of communicable diseases including the common cold, strep throat, COVID-19, and Influenza A (the flu). Each disease is paired with a visual. Some learners take out their phones to look at their throats and ask their friends, "Does my throat look like that?" The teacher asks if anyone wants to add a communicable, or spreadable, disease to the list. One student offers, "mono," so she writes it down.

For the next 10 minutes, students have the option to work independently, with a partner, or in a small group with the teacher to list as many symptoms as they can for at least one of the diseases. Students have the option to write words or draw images to represent symptoms on a provided graphic organizer. As they work, they are encouraged to use their devices for research and to find a place conducive to their learning. Two students work at a standing desk while others grab clip boards and gather on the floor with their devices.

Provide Multiple Means of Representation

The second principle of UDL reminds educators to provide multiple means of representation to build knowledge and comprehension in all learners. Not all learners comprehend information in the same way, have the same background information or funds of knowledge, or have access to the same language. When teachers present information, they often use a single representation. This is often done in a lecture, by playing a video, assigning text, or teaching vocabulary, etc. Because there is significant variability in students, they differ in the information they need to learn.

In the health lesson, after students complete the activator, there is a mini-lesson unpacking target vocabulary: risk, communicable disease, and community spread. One student's father is a nurse, so the teacher arranges for a short Zoom call where Dad talks about the importance of washing hands and wearing masks. The closed caption feature is used and students are encouraged to ask questions.

After a short discussion, the teacher provides options for students to learn more about how to prevent the spread of communicable disease: watch the CDC video in English or Spanish, read an article on Newsela, review pamphlets from the nurse's office, or explore a combination of these resources. They are provided with essential questions to support their learning. As students work, the teacher checks in with each of them, asks questions, and provides feedback.

Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression

It is devastating when students aren't able to express their understanding because of inflexible assessments. Traditionally, students have been asked to share their understanding using only a single pathway, like a multiple-choice test, essay prompt, and/or project without any flexible scaffolds or supports. When teachers provide students with multiple options that are authentic and personalized, learners are able to practice executive functioning skills as they analyze the task and choose the best option to demonstrate that they met the intended outcome.

After learning about how to reduce their risk of spreading or contracting communicable disease, students are provided with numerous options to share what they have learned. They can write a response, record a video or podcast, create a pamphlet or infographic, or suggest an alternative. The teacher provides a word bank with the target vocabulary, a single-point rubric, and a checklist so students can self-assess their work before submitting it. One student asks if he can write and produce a rap as long as it meets the rubric. "Absolutely," the teacher replies. "I can't wait to hear it."

ARE UDL AND DIFFERENTIATION THE SAME?

You may be reading this and thinking, "This sounds a lot like differentiated instruction." The frameworks are similar, and complementary, but they are not the same.

Carol Tomlinson leads the field of differentiated instruction, As Tomlinson shares in her book The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners, teachers in a differentiated classroom begin with their current curriculum and engaging instruction and then adapt the content, process, product, and environment to ensure that students receive the targeted intervention, support, and enrichment they need. This responsiveness is incredibly important, but may not set students up to reflect on their learning and make choices for themselves.

In the breakfast buffet analogy, you don't want to be a part of the "vegan group" where decisions are made for you. Even with the buffet, hosts need to be responsive and reflective, noting when some people aren't eating and figuring out how the buffet could be designed differently the next time. When differentiation is combined with the practices and principles of UDL, students have opportunities to reflect, make choices, and build ownership of their learning; they also benefit from more explicit support when necessary.

Unlike differentiation alone, UDL empowers students to self-differentiate their learning and build autonomy and independence; this sends a powerful message. In her book Antiracism and Universal Design for Learning, Andratesha Fritzgerald notes that this kind of design honors our students, that when we provide them with choice and voice, we communicate these things:

You are more important than the systems we serve.

You are more important than my personal preferences.

You are more important than the way the content is packaged.

I am willing to learn about you to help you reach your life goals.

You are important and I will honor you with instruction that holds you accountable and empowers you to take ownership of your own learning.

Proactively designing curriculum and instruction through the lens of UDL, and supplementing that design with differentiated instruction, is a pathway to equity-one that will have an incredible impact on learners.

As Mirko Chardin and I shared in Equity by Design: Delivering on the Power and Promise of UDL, "Educators hold incredible power: power to design learning experiences, power to set expectations for students, power to elevate and celebrate student voices, power to inspire and motivate students, the power to create consequences, and the power to allow for choice and personalization. We have to understand that all of us carry that power and privilege and we must use it as a tool to confront and dismantle inequities so all students have equal opportunities to learn."

Universal design is one path toward dismantling those inequities. Start your UDL journey now.

Learn More

As a next step, here is a buffet of high-quality resources to learn more about UDL and educational equity. Just like the Teacher Appreciation Breakfasts that I loved so much, check out your options, and choose what's best for you. And if you're like me and you want to try a little bit of everything, treat yourself!

Read It

Read this blog, written by Mirko Chardin and I, that shares that the time for equity (and UDL!) is now.

Read Chapter 1 in UDL Theory and Practice: Re-Envisioning Education through UDL (free with free login). The book is a universally designed text book, so you can read, have it read to you, or watch videos that explore concepts more deeply.

View a PDF copy of the UDL Flowchart, which is a tool to think about UDL lesson design. If you'd like to read a blog that introduces the flow chart, you can access it here.

View the UDL Progression Rubric to determine what UDL looks like at each phase of implementation.

Use the UDL Implementation Rubric to consider where your current practices are within UDL. There are no right or wrong answers. This is simply an opportunity to reflect on your current implementation. Choose the descriptor that best meets your practice and consider how you can continue to grow in UDL to create more equitable, personalized learning experiences for your students.

Read "Equity in Our Schools: A Pretty Little Lie" an article co-written with Andratesha Fritzgerald, the author of Antiracism and Universal Design for Learning.

Listen to It

Listen to this podcast on Cult of Pedagogy, Ten Ways Educators Can Take Action in Pursuit of Equity, featuring Pedro Noguera, Distinguished Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA.

Listen to this podcast from Paula Martin Johnson, where she shares concrete strategies for how educators can create a climate and curriculum that reflects students' racial and economic backgrounds, languages, religions, funds of knowledge and family structures.

Watch It

Come back for more.
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This framework rejects one-size-fits-all teaching and offers options for how to engage, what materials to use, and how to demonstrate learning.

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The Council for Exceptional Children is the largest international organization that aims to improve the success of children and youth with disabilities and/or gifts and talents; advocating for appropriate government policies, setting professional standards, providing professional development, and helping professionals acquire the resources necessary for effective professional practice. This organization may be especially helpful as they have special interest divisions that provide access to specialized networks of peers, advance research, and journals, which all can support my exploration and learning of areas of interest, such as: autism and developmental disabilities, visual and performing arts education, communication, language, and deaf/hard of hearing, culturally and linguistically diverse exceptional learners, emotional and behavioral health, and teacher education. I can fully anticipate returning to this organization as I delve into my teaching career.

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Council for Exceptional Children | The premier association for special education professionals

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The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)'s Partner Solutions Directory is an online resource for special education products, services, and programming support! Search for a topic and quickly receive a list of partners who provide products, services, or programming supporting your work and career.
View More Partner Solutions

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Council for Exceptional Children | The premier association for special education professionals

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The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving the educational success of children and youth with disabilities and/or gifts and talents.

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The Scholars with Diverse Abilities Program (SDAP) here at Appalachian State will be a great and helpful reference to have in this toolkit as I begin teaching high school English. SDAP is a two year program for students with intellectual disabilities that helps students develop skills that are essential to a fulfilling, independent, and successful life post-graduation. High school is a time where students and adolescents start to seriously consider their next moves in terms of getting a job, starting a career, joining the armed forces, or going to college. For my future students with autism, they may have to overcome more challenges than their neurotypical peers with regards to their future. SDAP may be a helpful program to recommend to students and their families as they begin to consider the student's plan for the future, and it may be a good resource for me as a teacher if I need to consider specific supports for a student with ASD to help their transition into adulthood.

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SDAP aims to prepare college-aged students with intellectual disabilities for personal growth and occupational success. The goal upon completion of the two-year program is that students obtain competitive, integrated employment and live independent, fulfilling lives.

The SDAP program is completely inclusive. This means that:

Students attend their courses with other university students.

Students attend concerts, ball games, and other campus activities with other university students.

Students have full access to all university programs and services.

The SDAP program is person-centered. This means that:

Students determine their academic, career, personal, and social goals throughout their enrollment in the SDAP program.

Students determine the number of supports they need to be successful.

There is no set curriculum.

The SDAP program is mutually beneficial. This means that:

All students benefit from an inclusive campus community.

Diverse learners promote universal design for learning.

The SDAP program is a Comprehensive Transition Postsecondary (CTP) program. This means that:

Students may be eligible for FAFSA, or financial aid.

Students may be eligible for work-study programs on campus.

If you would like to help with supporting the program, you can donate to the foundation fund that helps with scholarships, SDAP-specific services, and activities for students! Give online by clicking here, or contact Gina Harwood, Director of Development for the Reich College of Education, at 828-262-6563.

Visit

Come to visit campus for Fall and Spring Open House! Go to Appalachian's Admissions page for dates in September and April. Contact us for specific details about visiting SDAP during those days.

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SDAP aims to prepare college-aged students with intellectual disabilities for personal growth and occupational success. The goal upon completion of the two-year program is that students obtain competitive, integrated employment and live independent, fulfilling lives. Students attend their courses with other university students. Students attend concerts, ball games, and other campus activities with other university students.

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The Autism Research Institute's mission is to support the health and well-being of people affected by autism through research and education. This resource seems more relevant to individuals with autism, family members, clinical workers, researchers, and therapists rather than to teachers; however, the resources and research available through this organization will be invaluable with regards to my own personal understanding of autism, and may give me a better means of supporting and advocating for my own students with autism.

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ARI works to advance the understanding of autism by funding research and facilitating education on its causes and the potential treatments.

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Autism Speaks is an organization seeking to promote and provide solutions, support, and advocacy for the needs of individuals with autism, and their families. Their mission is rooted in a desire to increase understanding and acceptance of people with autism; being committed to creating a more equitable and accessible world for people with autism, and people of all backgrounds and identities. This will undoubtedly prove to be a useful resource for me as I begin my journey as a first year teacher, and as a teacher of students with autism. Autism Speaks is also active in research surrounding practices and better interventions for people with autism and related conditions. The resources and research available provided by Autism Speaks will be a great reference for this toolkit as I advocate and support my students with autism.

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The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) provides information, guidance, and resources that are available for public school educators teaching in North Carolina, where their aim is to help students develop intellectually, physically, vocationally, and emotionally. Using statistics from the CDC, this website offers information regarding the prevalence of autism in North Carolina, and the United States. There is further information regarding policy and guidance apropos to services supporting students with autism. Additionally, there are lists of Evidence-Based-Practices, instructional and online learning resources, as well as ELA and social/emotional learning resources too.

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The Purpose of this Site:
This site is intended to provide information, guidance, and resources for public school educators working in Local Education Agencies (LEAs) in North Carolina and other interested stakeholders. The goal is to facilitate capacity building and sustainment of best practices

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The first AFIRM module I completed during the second summer session, this introduction to ASD explores the characteristics of autism, how people with autism are diagnosed, and how to support students with autism. These modules do a fantastic job of breaking down stereotypes and stigma surrounding people with autism; furthermore, they made me first realize that people with autism and neurotypicals have more in common than people realize; that in some way shape or form, we all struggle with social competency.

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Introduction to Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a lifelong developmental disability that primarily affects social communication. This introduction to ASD describes characteristics of autism, including social communication, repetitive behaviors, thinking and learning, and how to support learners with ASD.

What Will I Learn?

The AFIRM model guides the learner through:

Characteristics of ASD, including social communication, repetitive behaviors, thinking and learning

How to support learners with ASD

Activity based scenarios that promote real-world application.

The Introduction to ASD module will take approximately 2 to 3 hours to complete.
If you leave the module prior to finishing, your place within the module will be saved. From your My Account page, look in the My Modules tab and select the last page viewed to resume this module.

Suggested citation:
Steinbrenner, J., Sam, A., Chin, J., Morgan, W., & AFIRM for Paras Team. (2019). Introduction to ASD. FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina. Retrieved from https://afirm.fpg.unc.edu/introduction-asd

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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a lifelong developmental disability that primarily affects social communication. This introduction to ASD describes characteristics of autism, including social communication, repetitive behaviors, thinking and learning, and how to support learners with ASD.

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At Dr.Hedges' recommendation, I have added and subscribed to Spectrum News so that I can stay up to date with the latest information on autism. This will be a great resource for my toolbox as I move on in my professional career as a teacher. As I encounter new students, I want to be able to support them as best as possible in my classroom. Spectrum will be of great value to me as I consider new ways to support students with autism, especially in my early years as a teacher.

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Social difficulties. Restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior. Sensory sensitivity. Autism has long been defined by its challenges But autism sometimes comes with advantages. This special report highlights those advantages and describes the research behind them.

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Social difficulties. Restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior. Sensory sensitivity. Autism has long been defined by its challenges But autism sometimes comes with advantages. This special report highlights those advantages and describes the research behind them.