That's the number of young adults with autism spectrum disorder that will become young adults in the next 15 years, according to a study published in Pediatrics May 14.  Of those, fewer than a third will have employment, a college education or technical training.

The study examined long term outcomes for young adults with autism spectrum disorders.  The group had significantly lower rates of employment than students with cognitive disabilities, learning disabilities and speech and language impairments.

500,000.  Half a million.  Not that large a group out of a population of around 300 million, it only represents  a tenth of one percent.  Still the social costs could be significant, if only a third of these young adults have useful occupations.  Will communities provide activities?  Who will care for these adults when their parents are no longer able?  Will it eat up the accumulated wealth of their families, as well as have significant impact on their parents' or siblings' career opportunities?

As a professional who works with students with autism, I think the low rate reflects another significant challenge.  With appropriate interventions (speech, ABA, occupational therapy, direct instruction) the function of many children with Autism Read More...

The end of the school is drawing near, and it's time to start all the transitions we need to complete in order to hand in our keys.  We have reports to finish, grades to file, and packing to do.  It is also time to prepare to send your students on to the next teacher with enough information to help them prepare and plan for instruction.   I have created some resources specifically to help you to do that, that can be found above, or at this link.

Some of us will also be working in Extended School Year (ESY) programs.  I will be working once again with the youngest students with  Autism in an early intervention program we call KIDS.   I have begun to create the materials I promised, including a Circus Unit. I plan to add cowboys, under the sea and a pirate unit.

Some of us will be changing location/classroom.  I have also prepared a checklist with a number of ideas about ways to be sure that your move is successful.   I will be moving to a primary autism room, working with first grade students who have graduated from the KIDS program.  I am moving in order to get enough hours in to complete my BCBA (Board Certified Behavior Analyst) so I can design individual intervention programs for children with Autism.

I hope this years end leaves you with new opportunities for next year.  I hope you also find the restoration and health you need to have yet another successful year!

The May 7, 2012 New York Times had an interesting article on a teacher's protest of kinds.  Students preparing to teach in middle school or high school classes at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, have refused to participate in a study to evaluate a new national licensure testing program being developed by the Pearson, the giant educational company that publishes most of the standardized individual intelligence and achievement instruments (WISC, KTEA, and KeyMath, to name a few.)

The test will include not only multiple choice sections, but also video samples of the candidate teaching, which the candidate can edit.  Currently, school of education that are certified by a national organization, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) provide the supervision and evaluation of teachers through student teaching.  The notion was that the NCATE supervises and evaluates institutions of higher education and the professionals who observe student teachers in their classrooms provide supervision, Read More...

I love working in special education because I always find something new I have to learn.  This past year I have been pushed to go deeper and write more about social skills, including social skill cartoon strips.  I have expanded my classroom management and behavior resources, not because I've had a rough year, but because I have seen it all around me.

My principal found an opportunity to get us training in explicit phonics.  The training came from the Clark County School District, although it originated with  CORE, a California based educational training organization.  Based on research that shows the importance of mastering all the foundational reading skills, explicit phonics instruction is just that:  explicit instruction that models, teaches and offers practice in decoding skills.

The explicit strategies we were taught build phonemic awareness, phonics and all the skills Read More...