Use this site to access recordings and presentations from National Conferences
Autism Society records most keynote and concurrent sessions at their annual conferences. You can see and hear those recordings by purchasing full online access, or individual recordings.
4897
Helping Hands: A Caring School Community Program – “Kids Helping Kids”
Saturday, July 10, 2010: 3:15 PM-4:30 PM
Reunion G (Hyatt Regency Dallas)
Community of Caring is an evidence-based, nationally recognized character education program in over 1,200 schools nationwide and in Canada. We have utilized this initiative to develop a character education program to include all students, particularly the students in our building with autistic spectrum disorders, and would like to share how you can use it in your school. Activities that promote peer-directed social interactions will be discussed.
This presentation is about a character education grant that the West Brook Middle School received through the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Center for Community of Caring, and how we took a nationwide initiative and broadened its scope to place an increased focus on our students on the spectrum. The goal for this presentation is to help other schools to develop a program like this that can facilitate the inclusion of students with autism into their school communities.
We will begin by discussing background information of the Community of Caring program itself: what it is, where it came from and its original focus in our school. We will then talk about how we further developed the program to help our students on the spectrum.
We will discuss the process by which our students were included. We assembled a group of neurotypical peers that volunteered to be “buddies” with our students. These peers participated in structured group discussions about the needs of our students and how best they could help them. Early activities included structured games in the gymnasium and art projects in our classroom as our students began meeting and spending time with their buddies on a weekly basis. Later, our students began getting involved in after-school activities with their buddies, and the culminating activities included trips out into the community together.
The presentation will include data collected from surveys as well as feedback from students that participated in the process. We will conclude by taking questions from the audience.
Learning Objectives:
- Attendees will learn to develop a school-wide character education program that includes students with autism.
- Attendees will learn to develop activities to provide peer-directed social opportunities for students with autism.
Content Area: Education
Presenter:
Stephen Lockwood, BCBA
Mr. Lockwood is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and a special education teacher at Paramus High School in Paramus, New Jersey as part of the LEAP program. He has worked with students with autism for the past 13 years and holds a Master's degree from The College of New Jersey.