ABA Autism Training videos: Chapters 1 - 5

http://youtu.be/7pN6ydLE4EQ

http://youtu.be/crFjZlWWZo0

http://youtu.be/TDijJjKHMVQ

http://youtu.be/xU395HgXl2s

http://youtu.be/yzgC9ZPzot8

The Quote

"We believe that the brain in not imprisoned by genes, we believe that thought can be modified in as much as it interacts with the environment, that intelligence is the fruit of synergic cooperation of the various parts of the brain.”

-Loris Malaguzzi

I used this quote for my first blog on autism. Some didn't quite understand "why." What was the connection to my topic? To me, the quote spoke of the person within and the different personalities and temperments that grow within each of us. The brain continues to grow and develop for each of us in different ways. Genetics is not the "key" factor. I guess I saw this quote as a way of saying, "everyone can grow and learn within a positive environment and supportive guidance." Through the stimuation of the "brain," children with disabilities can grow and learn. It take different methods and techniques to open the lock of a child's mind. As educators, are we ready for this challenge...

10 Things Every Child With Autism Wishes You Knew

http://youtu.be/AbeyIG7Fz8s

This is a powerful video, a must see.

The Plan/Presentation

So...what's the plan? How will this be presented to the agency's? In a visual presentation and the use of a fact sheet, the information collected will be presented to the administrative staff at central office. The plan will be to outline the teachers' concerns, discuss the data on the fact sheet, and introduce a possible schedule for the new program year with monthly workshops (with a description of topics and outcomes) documented. Photographs of the children interacting with activities, social groups, and the classroom environment will support the information presented. The focus of this meeting is to provide new information and a proposed plan of how to assist teachers, children with autism, and their parents. Teachers of autism children, the site coordinator, and the children's parents will also be invited to attend the meeting to discuss their concerns, thoughts, or ideas on how this will enhance the children's learning. The final thought or idea will be to introduce a possible resource library for the teachers with materials, books, and other supplies to implement a developmentally appropriate curriculum.

The Objective

The objective of this project is to establish a series of workshops for teachers and para professionals. The focus is on children with autism. Teachers felt they were unprepared. These workshops would enhance their teaching skills, the different spectrum of autism, understand how to implement appropriate activities, provide interventive methods or strategies, and strengthen social and communication skills. In order to create these workshops, the teachers completed a survey based on discovering what they knew about autism and what they would like to know about autism. The list or results of that survey was documented in the previous page. So now what's next?

The list from the teachers' survey mentioned in the previous page will be organized into catagories. Some topics might overlap with others. Then, a proposed schedule will created for the new program year; enhancing an already full calendar of events (in-services, trainings, meetings, etc.). This will involve the child development's central office administrative staff. The next step is to find qualified instructors for the identified workshops. The final "dream" of this project is to build a resource library with materials (such as visual aids) and books for the teachers to use and to specifically plan for children with autism.  More research must be conducted to ensure age and developmentally appropriate information is found. In the end, teachers, children, para professionals, and parents will benefit from this project by making a stronger learning environment for everyone.

The results of the survey

After surveying a group of teachers at the child care center, the following information is a list of possible topics they felt were necessary to understand and plan for children with autism. This information was shared with the teachers, their administrative staff, and the agency's child development adminsitrative staff. The idea is to create a list of workshops that trains both teachers and para professionals. The new skills will assist them in their daily planning and implementing activities and life skills to autism children while building a relationship and interactions with others.

Results of the Teachers' Survey...Ideas and suggestions regarding workshops and trainings-

• The different levels of autism (spectrum of autism)
• Social interactions and communication- how to incorporate the child into groups successfully
• Symbolic or imaginative play
• Language development- how to build on this skill (the use of different tools)
• Ways the child might communicate to others- instruction on social skills and communication
• Sensory and emotion regulations- helping the child recognize the emotions of others
• Attention spans- helping to refocus or focus on an activity or subject
• Physical problems/multi-disorders
• Visual aids- visual support to strengthen independence
• What are their strengths and needs
• Explicit instruction across curricular domains- appropriate curriculum
• Flexibility in developmentally appropriate activities
• Fine and gross motor skills
• Structuring learning environments
• How to reinforce skills and rules as well as motivate the child
• How to prevent certain behaviors- how to do an intervention
• Working with parents of autism children
• The use of technology

Continuation

This blog will document my journey into the realm of creating a system that will assist teachers in their quest for knowledge, strategies, and techniques through workshops and training sessions. Early childhood centers have seen an increase in their enrollment of children with autism. The teachers feel unprepare to plan for them as they struggle with the social-emotional aspect. What do teachers need? What type of trainings or information do they require to build skills? The focus will be on collecting information geared towards building resources and workshops opportunities for teachers of early childhood educators. The ending of this presentation is a call for a resource library with possible locations and a list of materials. The library will not only house materials and resources for children with autism but for all children with special education.