Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
About 40 teachers from nine area school districts attended a two-day workshop May 8-9 on strategies for teaching autistic students.
QCS photo: Jerrene Bradley
Speaker Joel Arick tells teachers about the STAR Autism Program on Wednesday morning.
The workshop hosted districts from Tucumcari, Taos, Texico, Logan, Fort Sumner, House, Elida Dora and Floyd. Cathy Fury, lead diagnostician, said participants were taught the techniques of discrete trial training, pivotal response training and teaching functional routines.
Participants received examples of STAR Autism Program lesson plans at each instructional level in order to practice their skills in implementing the program.
Fury said the STAR program can be used to teach children with autism the critical skills identified by the 2001 National Research Council.
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) instructional methods of discrete trial training, pivotal response training and functional routines form the instructional base of the comprehensive program for children with autism. The methods of discrete trial training and pivotal response training were designated the only methods that meet criteria for scientifically-based skill-based methods under No Child Left Behind.
Rebecca Biffle, special programs secretary, said speakers for the workshop included Debbie Ware and Joel Arick.
Biffle said the STAR Autism Program has been shown to be effective when implemented by public school early childhood and elementary level teachers, related service staff and instructional assistants.
The program provides a structure that allows teachers to implement instruction throughout the child's day by using typical school routines and provides techniques to teach the child in short one-on-one instructional sessions.
The skills the child learns in the instruction can be immediately practiced in the natural environment through the functional routines lessons, Biffle said.