 A Case Study In a recent training project, PSU staff worked with an early childhood special education program to re-evaluate a classroom in order to accommodate their students with autism. This was a typical EI/ECSE classroom with nine children between 3 and 5 years of age. On their own, these children had trouble communicating and difficulty interacting with others. Some preferred sitting in a corner, other were disruptive or had trouble transitioning between activities. PSU worked with the teacher, autism specialist, and morning staff to set up an environment and build a program that included a curricular scope and sequence. Through a series of workshops, model classroom development, and hands-on consultation visits over the next few months, PSU trainers worked with the teacher and classroom staff to gain the skill and confidence necessary to run and monitor individual programs for the children. The staff also learned to plan for challenging behavior, to construct visual and environmental supports, and to design and implement large and small group activities. After working with the staff, training coordinator John Gill talked about the experience, "The morning staff were able to teach the new techniques to the afternoon staff. Students were now working at planned individual and group activities. The difference in the classroom atmosphere was amazing. The staff was now using errorless learning and positive reinforcement to increase desirable behaviors. You can walk into the room and hear children talking instead of the adults giving instructions and corrections. And best of all, students gained opportunities for mainstreaming by increasing their language and functional routine skills." |
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