The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

This session guides parents and educators through the creation of a classroom campaign, a process of building support and long-term social networks for all students with ASD. The campaign begins early in a child’s school career and evolves along with the child to meet his and his classmate’s ever-changing needs. As part of a larger outreach effort, the campaign incorporates self-awareness, family involvement, peer education and community bridge-building in a systematic approach to promoting positive and inclusive futures. The classroom campaign consists of advocacy in the form of disclosure and education to promote acceptance and support of the child with Autism Spectrum Disorder by his or her peers. Experience dictates that this effort is best initiated upon the child’s entry to school or as soon after diagnosis as possible.  A collaborative effort between parents and educators, the classroom campaign is part of a larger community building effort aimed at promoting positive and inclusive futures for people with ASD.
This session will instruct participants in these key elements of a successful classroom campaign:

• the importance of a presenter who can portray autism in a positive and realistic light and who possesses specific knowledge of the child;
  
• a plan for assessing the child’s understanding and building self awareness over time;
• resources for addressing sibling issues;
• age-appropriate descriptions of autism and explanations of the behaviors students may see from their classmate with autism;
  
• strategies for building presentations including the use of analogies, illustrations, pop culture references and experiential exercises;
  
• incorporation of children’s literature pertaining to autism;
  
• a method for evaluating children’s literature on disability;
  
• take-home information for sharing with students’ parents;
  
• a method to enlist the support of classmates’ families; 
• universal (school-wide) interventions to build general awareness of autism and reinforce classroom efforts.

As the students advance grade levels, the presentation should be updated to reflect the child’s development, extended to meet the growing capacity of peers and expanded in scope to reflect the larger issues of disability and community as they relate to the school environment.When applied consistently over time, the benefits of educating our children's future employers, neighbors, legislators and colleagues should include a more positive cultural attitude, higher community expectations and tangible opportunities for community living, leisure and employment for people with ASD.

Learning Objectives: