Building Capacity Of Schools To Implement Evidence-Based Practices With Young Students With ASD

This session provides an overview of a training and coaching model on evidenced-based practices for children with autism spectrum disorder, based on the work of the National Professional Development Center on ASD. The project has been implemented with early childhood special education programs in Vermont to build the capacity of providers to meet the needs of young children with ASD and their families. Strategies, outcomes data from the past 2 years and implications for other states will be shared. In this project, a model of training and coaching developed by the National Professional Development Center (NPDC) on ASD and implemented in 12 states over the last 5 years, was replicated with early childhood special education programs in the state of Vermont in an effort to increase the capacity of providers to effectively serve young children with ASD and their families. An adapted model of assessing, training and coaching special education teams was developed and implemented with two cohorts (12 schools districts total) over two years, and outcomes have been impressive, suggesting that states can adapt national training models to implement effective capacity building initiatives with significant implications for children and families.

Over the last 5 years, significant efforts have been devoted to determining evidence based practices for children with ASD and there is now a defined and consistent list of effective practices. Both the National Standards Project from the National Autism Center, and the National Professional Development Centers on ASD have undertaken extensive literature reviews and established a defined set of practices that meet the criteria as an evidence-based practice. However, despite the continued rise in the numbers of students with ASD, often providers responsible for programming for and intervening with young children with ASD have little formal training in implementing the evidence-based practices that are known to be effective and many report lacking the knowledge or capacity to effectively support students with ASD in their classrooms. The need for successful models of training and in particular, for cost-effective models of training which assure application of content learned, is a frequently identified need by many professionals.

As part of the project design, pre- and post-assessment data were collected from participating services providers on their knowledge, skills and use of 24 evidenced based practices and gains were reported in all areas following the year of coaching and training. In addition, pre- and post-program assessments were conducted to determine the number and quality of practices and supports in place to serve students with ASD in the classroom, and data available reflect significant and meaningful growth across programs both in the number of practices implemented and in the consistency with which those interventions were used. Finally, evaluation and satisfaction data were collected to assess how well individual training and coaching activities met the needs of the targeted population.

The capacity building model developed in Vermont based on the work of the National Professional Development Centers on ASD has significant implications for doing similar work in other states and continuing the work of the NPDC well after their grant funding has ended. This presentation will describe how the Vermont project was funded, how it was implemented with state resources, how key elements of the coaching relationship were identified and highlighted, sample coaching techniques, and how outcomes were tracked. Each of these elements are aspects of training and coaching initiatives which can be further replicated and applied in other states and with other programs and target age groups.