Preventing Maltreatment of Students with Autism Sabrina Cabanilla PPS 6010 Multicultural Children, Adolescents, and Their Families May 3, 2012

WHY? Parent powerlessness Overwhelmed teachers Students are misunderstood or being mistreated Disconnect between school and in-home programs Cost-effective solution/alternative

PURPOSE INITIATIVE:  The goal of this program is to provide a learning environment that is effective, safe, and appropriate for students with autism and other developmental and behavioral disorders. MISSION:  To provide support for parents, families, and teachers, and teach strategies to help understand our students. VISION:  Students with disabilities have the ability to learn, engage, and interact in an appropriate environment.

GOAL 1: Parents, teachers, and other education professionals will be familiar with the needs of our students Objective 1.1:  To familiarize parents, teachers, and other education professionals with the 4 main functions of behaviors. Objective 1.2:  To coach parents, teachers, and other education professionals on basic behavior management techniques Strategies: Role-playing, seek properly trained, certified, and qualified staff to model behavior plans

GOAL 2: Unified behavior management practices between the home and the school Objective 2.1:  To provide frequent opportunities for teachers and parents to discuss behavior concerns, management strategies, and classroom expectations Objective 2.2:  To help teachers understand the racially and culturally diverse backgrounds of their students and families Objective 2.3:  To motivate parents to be active in their child’s learning process Strategies: communication logs, questionnaires, review common goals

GOAL 3 : To reduce feelings of burn-out for teachers, parents, and other education professionals Objective 3.1:  To provide enough support for teachers in classrooms with high incidences of maladaptive behaviors Objective 3.2:  To encourage realistic expectations for students Objective 3.3:  To help parents appreciate their child’s strengths Strategies: properly trained, qualified/certified support, start conversations regarding the child with something positive about them.

LOGISTICS 1.Educators will distribute and gather information from parents regarding their backgrounds, values, and expectations for their child. Parents will submit this information prior to the start of the school year. 2.Meet with classroom aides and teachers and review their knowledge of behavior functions and appropriate consequences. 3.Hold a meeting with parents and staff to inform and/or review the functions of behavior, as well as have the opportunity to meet/reconnect with them. Practice through role-playing, video-modeling, and discussion. 4.Parents and teachers will check-in with each other throughout the year. Invite parents to observe/participate in the classroom; Classroom/home-visits by the School Psych, or Autism Specialist 5.Parents and teachers will list the students’ strengths, and build on those strengths for the following year

REFERENCES Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2010). 50 Strategies for Communicating and Working with Diverse Families (2 nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc. Murray, M.M., Akerman-Spain, K., Williams, E.U., Ryley, A.T. (2011). Knowledge is Power: Empowering the Autism Community Through Parent-Professional Training. School Community Journal Symes, W., Humphreys, N. (2011). The Deployment, Training and Teacher Relationships of Teaching Assistants Supporting Pupils with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in Mainstream Secondary Schools. British Journal of Special Education up-autistic-son-10-to-expose-bullying-by-teaching-staffhttp://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/25/ dad-wires- up-autistic-son-10-to-expose-bullying-by-teaching-staff 28/news/ _1_cardboard-box-teacher-autistic-sonhttp://articles.nydailynews.com/ /news/ _1_cardboard-box-teacher-autistic-son Bernardino-National-Forest htmlhttp:// Bernardino-National-Forest html