The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

As the identification of students with autism continues to grow, the need for leaders in this area of education also has expanded. This session will address skills needed for answering the call for leadership in autism programs. It will focus on resources and models that have been shown to be effective in a variety of districts as well as lead discussion among the participants regarding programs that have been effective in their programs. As the identification of students with autism continues to grow, the need for leaders in this area of education also has expanded. Increasingly, teachers with specialized knowledge of autism spectrum disorders, at one time perhaps the only ones in their district, are being asked to train and mentor new teachers and staff to support growing numbers of students. Some of these teachers may maintain their own classrooms and be asked to informally mentor other teachers. Others will leave the classroom and become “quasi-administrators” as autism coaches or coordinators. These individuals typically are asked to lead and develop autism programs but do not have supervisory responsibility over the teachers with whom they work. In addition, administrators such as special education directors and program coordinators are increasingly being asked to become more expert in the area of autism to support their growing programs and communicate effectively about their programs with families. All of these professionals are challenged to maintain current and accurate, research-based information about autism spectrum disorders, to train and mentor others (many of whom they are not officially “in charge” of), and to build and maintain legally defensible and effective programs for the students with autism. These professionals will require leadership skills to augment their expertise in autism spectrum disorders in order to meet these needs. They will need to be skilled at working collaboratively with other professionals as well as with parents, often in difficult situations, to develop creative and effective programs to meet individual needs of children who often do not fit the mold of existing programs. They need to be knowledgeable in the case law and legal issues of providing appropriate programs for students with autism spectrum disorders to work proactively to prevent litigation within their districts and to effectively advocate for innovative programming for their students. These professionals will need tools and resources for evaluating their programs and methods for implementing and tracking the results of these evaluations. They will benefit from skills in training parents and professionals in effective strategies. In the call for leadership, they will benefit from fully understanding their leadership style and how it can best match with the needs of the teachers and staff they are asked to train, motivate, and lead. And finally, they often will find themselves in situations where expertise in resolving conflicts will be critical to their success.

This presentation will focus on training strategies to help these professionals answer the call of leadership. It will include information about resources and methods for program evaluation. Models of strategic plans created by autism leaders in the field will be presented as examples of how programs can be developed over time. Participants will discuss ideas that have been effective in working with staff in their own districts and share strategies they have found effective for motivating others and working with families to lead districts in developing and improving autism programs. Models for building partnerships between parents and professionals will be discussed and shared. Finally, approaches for meeting the challenge of leading and motivating staff without being “in charge” will be discussed with ideas will be discussed.

Content Area: Education