The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

This presentation will explain the use of the “Student Planning Profile”. This multi-dimensional tool allows educational teams to summarize important student strengths and needs into one user-friendly document for intervention and curriculum planning. It integrates assessment information (both formal and observational) from across the triad of affected diagnostic domains of socialization, communication, and behavior, as well as, the other domains of: emotional health, self-management, fine motor, sensory, academic performance (e.g. math and reading) and general response to instruction. Autism Spectrum Disorders affect at least one in one hundred fifty individuals, likely more in the school-aged years.  This spectrum represents the second, most prevalent developmental disability among children. Many state and federal agencies have reported significant elevations in the number of students diagnosed with this spectrum.  Although, the reasons for the increase in identified students are the subject of ongoing controversies, the number of students in need of services has been dramatically affected.  As a result, there is an unprecedented requirement for coordinated services to meet the multi-faceted needs of these students.  This requirement is at the forefront of service delivery for public school systems.  Parents of students with ASD are informed and involved participants in their students IEP teams.  However, the remarkable numbers and the increased identification of students with ASD has placed an overwhelming burden on school systems to provide appropriate services for these students.   Parents and school personnel must be able to work together to ensure that appropriate identification and education manifests.

IDEA reauthorization has mandated that school professionals carefully consider all assessment data when planning for the needs of students with disabilities.  Most students with Autism Spectrum Disorders have voluminous school records that reflect the findings and clinical opinions of a large number of school and non-school professionals.  Although these reports provide substantial recommendations, often significant findings important for planning are buried within the bodies of those documents.   School professionals, as well as parents, are frequently overwhelmed by the needs of their students and the complexities of the ASD disorder.  Teachers need easily accessible information to determine the most appropriate goals for intervention.  IEP teams (e.g. including parents, educators, and therapists) are striving to develop a hiearachy for intervention in the core deficit areas impacted by Autism.  These include socialization, communication, and behavior regulation, as well as, the related areas of emotional health, fine motor, sensory, self-management, and their corresponding impacts on instruction and performance.  This Student Planning Profile seeks to integrate all information available into a readable, single document that will assist in determining student strengths and weaknesses.  Following completion of the Student Planning Profile, the educational team can then determine priority areas for intervention.  Once implemented, the Student Planning Profile also can be used effectively as a rubric-style measure of progress for students on the ASD spectrum which can be used throughout the student’s school career.

In addition to identifying student strengths and needs, educational professionals need to understand how student strengths and weaknesses can be integrated into an appropriate program.  Only after understanding how the student’s unique learning profile affects the student in the areas of social, emotional, behavior, and learning, can the IEP team design an appropriate program that is based on common proven methods.  This presentation also will provide a related intervention strategies chart that pairs educational best practices to the needs of the student.

In summary, the Student Planning Profile will give parents, special educators and regular educators an effective way of managing student information, as well as developing interventions based on research based practices and the unique needs of each individual student.  The profile can also be used to facilitate communication and understanding of what the student is capable of doing, where the weaknesses are, and how both these areas need to be considered when designing a program for a student.  A program designed using the Student Planning Profile will promote not only academic learning, but can improve communication skills, behavior regulation abilities, social growth and emotional well-being.

(Upon request, the presenters will be glad to submit a portion of the Student Planning Profile for review by the committee),

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