K-12 Intensive Training for School-Based Teams

Team Application for ’18-19

Application due March23, 2018

The Statewide Autism Resources and Training Project (START)K-12 Intensive Training focuses on evidence-based practices to increase knowledge and skills that enhance the educational programming and outcomes for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and related disabilities from kindergarten through high school. Intensive training is provided to multidisciplinary teams including teachers, administrators, ancillary staff, and parents. Each team is comprised of six individuals who attend each training session and work collaboratively to develop implementation plans for a target student and school building.

This training is offered as part of START’s grant through the Michigan Department of Education, Office of Special Education (MDE, OSE). The START Project has provided professional development and resources to school-based teams since 2001 to improve outcomes for students with ASD across the state of Michigan.

Intermediate School Districts, Local Education Agencies, and Public School Academies should be the primary applicants. Preference will be given to schools and districts:

  • that demonstrate significant need as well as high numbers of students with ASD.
  • in geographic areas that have not received START Intensive Training recently.
  • that work in collaboration with other schools, local agencies, or other organizations.
  • that have applied to START previously but could not be accommodated in the schedule.

Module presenters and training materials will be provided by START at no cost to participating teams. The costs to your ISD/district include: meals, mileage, and sub costs, as necessary for your team members. Reasonable cost for meals may be covered through RCN START-contracted funds if agreed upon by the RCN members, however RCN will not be allocated additional funds to cover these costs.

The training location for the 2018-2019 K-12 Intensive Training is Oakland Schools in Waterford, Michigan.

Year one: September 1, 2018 through June 15, 2019 with up to 14 days of Intensive Training for district teams. Additionally, a small number of teams that participate in the training will receive follow up technical assistance and coaching support in year one and two.

Year two: September 1, 2019 through June 15, 2020 with up to six (6) days of Intensive Training for district teams.

Please submit this application electronically, by email to no later than March 23, 2018. Applicants will be notified whether they have been selected to attend the training by the end of April 2018.

If you have questions about the project’s purpose or questions regarding the training or application process, contact:

Amy Matthews Ph.D., Project Director

(616) 331-3513 or

Jana Benjamin, Project Manager

(616) 331-6482 or

GVSU reserves the right to accept or reject any or all applications. Approval is dependent upon continued funding by the Michigan Department of Education, Office of Special Education.

START K-12 Intensive Training

STARTintensive school-based training offers knowledge and skills to educators serving students with ASD with a primary emphasis on building teaming and collaboration skills within the school. The ultimate goal is to increase local capacity through an increase in knowledge, skills, and teaming and collaboration for supporting students with ASD.

School-based teams may be comprised of team members with varying levels of knowledge about ASD. Training will be offered at no cost; however, the school system is responsible for the costs of professional time away from the classroom or other responsibilities, and schools must cover lunch and travel costs for participants.

This training is available to school districts and ISDs that are able to:

Year one:

  1. Assemble a team of professionals and parents who attend all training sessions and demonstrate an active commitment to further developing evidence-based practices to support students with ASD in their school building and community.
  2. Identify team leaders to facilitate and coordinate the intensive training.
  3. Evaluate program delivery and related supports for students with ASD using the START program assessment tools.

Year two:

  1. Implement the strategies from the year one START training sessions to expand evidence-based practice programming for students with ASD and serve as demonstration sites for other buildings in the district/county.
  2. Commit to recruit and train Building Coaches as supports in each building for students with ASD.
  3. Evaluate program delivery and related supports for students with ASD using the START program assessment tools.

The intensive training offered to schools is based on “evidence-based practices.”Evidence-based practicesare empirically supported practices informed by professional judgment, parent involvement, and data. We do not endorse any particular program, but review the research literature to identify the practices and systems with the most empirical evidence.Although we may specify strategies, we are not endorsing a single approach, and presentations reflect an emphasis on the use of evidenced-based strategies.We also emphasize teaming and collaborating, and parent-school and community-school partnerships to better serve students with ASD.

For the training, we use a general curriculum framework that will build a foundation in the understanding of ASD, the teaming process, effective teaching and behavior support, and systems-level changes that support student outcomes in your school program. Presentations will be delivered by experts in various areas of ASD such as behavior support, educational strategies, peer to peer support, and systems-level change.

Note: START has provided intensive training to numerous school-based teams from across the state. If you are interested in learning more about this training, we can provide you with contact information for team leaders and administrators from other districts/ISDs who have worked with START.

The START K-12 Intensive Training is comprised of 11 modules, with an additional module specifically for Administrators, over a two-year period:

Year One Modules

Module 1: Orientation, Foundations in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and the Teaming Process (2 days): This module provides participants with an orientation to the START Project and an overview of ASD including current characteristics and definitions; learning characteristics associated with ASD, etiologies and research around ASD. The module also includes information on evidence-based practices for students with ASD as well as the importance of family involvement in educational planning. The Teaming Process includes a problem-solving format that can be applied to team decision making efforts, and participants will learn how this process can be readily applied to student educational planning and behavior plan meetings.

Module 2: Looking at ASD Differently (2 Days): This module is about respecting the characteristics of ASD manifested by people on the spectrum and using their intense interests and needs to their advantage. It is not uncommon for people to observe autistic behaviors in a student with ASD and decide they will develop a plan to "extinguish" those behaviors. However, this approach often leads to further challenging behavior. This presentation will focus on a new way of thinking about behaviors associated with ASD, which is foundational for staff at all levels who are working with individuals with ASD.

Module 3: Positive Behavioral Interventions & Support for Students with ASD (2 Days): This module is a team-based training on the principles of positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) for students with ASD.Participants will gain an understanding of the three-tiered model of PBIS as well as the problem-solving process of functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and positive behavior support plan development.Participants will learn to collect relevant data and use that information to guide the development of behavioral strategies. Specific behavioral strategies effective for students with ASD are addressed.

Module 4: Educational Strategies and Supports for Students with ASD (2 Days): This module provides participants with a foundation of educational strategies that build upon the strengths of students with ASD and lead to successful learning. Participants are provided an opportunity to experience ASD through sensitivity awareness activities which lead to a better understanding of the learning challenges for these students. Participants learn to provide curricular accommodations and differentiation so that students with ASD have access to appropriate grade-level curriculum. A framework for developing an individualized academic differentiation and grading plan for a student with ASD as well as practice in creating such a plan is provided.

Module 5: Peer to Peer Support for Students with ASD (2 Days): This module provides participants with the specific steps necessary to develop a peer to peer support program for students with ASD. Information covered includes the process for recruiting general education students, the necessary training they require as well as strategies for maintaining the students and program as a whole. The module includes information on the concept of “medium of exchange,” which addresses strategies for connecting general education students with students with ASD and all forms necessary for developing, implementing and maintaining the program are provided.

Module 6: IEP Development and Implementation for Students with ASD (2 Days): This module focuses on the process of developing an Individualized Educational Program (IEP) for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder ASD that incorporates the legal requirements of LRE (Least Restrictive Environment) and embeds established evidence-based practices for students with ASD. Participants complete an Educational Benefit Review that addresses the effectiveness of previous IEPs in order to target discussion points to enhance the future IEP process.Participants learn how to write an effective Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP) statement as well as develop observable and measurable goals and objectives related to the student’s progress in the general education curriculum and setting. Strategies for implementing the IEP with fidelity and data collection procedures for monitoring progress toward goals and objectives are also covered.

Module 7: Transition Planning for Students with ASD (1 Day): This module provides a framework of activities that leads to a successful yearly Individualized Educational Program (IEP) transition for students with ASD. Participants are given an opportunity to reflect on the student’s progress of the previous school year as well as conduct the activities necessary to prepare for the upcoming grade or building transition.

Administrator Module (1/2 Day with an optional afternoon session): This module is intended for ISD, district, and building administrators. The administrator module provides a comprehensive overview of the START intensive training components. This module will suggest strategies for positive administrative support of evidence-based practices in supporting students with ASD.

Year Two Supplementary Modules

Systems Change through Coaching - Parts 1 & 2 (2 days): This module addresses issues related to educational systems change that increases implementation of effective practices for students with ASD. Participants are provided a structure for developing a coaching model as well as skills for serving in a variety of coaching roles and responsibilities.Tools to assist in implementing the coaching model, including the Universal Supports Assessment and Planning Tool (USAPT) developed by START, are provided.Participants are provided a variety of strategies for working and interacting with colleagues during the process of systems level change.

Asperger’s Syndrome (2 days): This module is intended for participants educating students with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS). The module explores characteristics of students with AS and effective practices identified in the literature to support these students in their school environment. Relevant theories are covered, including social attribution theory and theory of mind, which are critical to supporting the social, emotional and behavioral development of students with AS. The Path A/Path B strategy is used to teach participants how attributions impact decision-making and responses to the behaviors of students with AS.

Self-Management (1 Day): Self-management strategies have been used for students with a wide range of academic and behavioral challenges, including students with ASD. Teaching self-management is a pivotal for students to learn how to independently regulate their behavior across many situations. Although teachers and family members initially may play a major role in the implementation of the system, ultimately, the responsibility for ongoing use of the system should be passed to the student as much as possible. This module provides participants with instruction on how to individualize a self-management system for a student with ASD. This will include the steps needed for a student to learn to discriminate between appropriate and inappropriate behaviors, monitor and record their own behaviors, and reward themselves for meeting a specified goal.

Education-Based Evaluations for ASD (1 Day): This module outlines critical components and processes for an education-based special education eligibility evaluation for ASD. It incorporates key features of its foundational predecessor, CET (Centralized Evaluation Team), and includes a detailed review of the Michigan Administrative Rules for Special Education (MARSE) ASD eligibility criteria. Evaluation components and processes outlined in the Education-Based Evaluations for ASD document published by the Michigan Autism Council are also reviewed, which includes tools and examples for interviews, observations, and report-writing. A critical review of available standardized tests and their technical adequacy and differential eligibility decision-making processes are also included

Although we are very fortunate to have the opportunity to meet with teams multiple times during the school year, there is so much to learn and apply that we will ask the participants to review relevant materials and meet with their training team outside of the scheduled training days. This will lead to better implementation of the training information through follow up on action plans set during the training.

All teams must be organized around a Target Student who is supported by the team. Parents of the Target Student are an important part of the team andmust be invited to attend as a member of the six-person team.

Typically, teams are comprised of some combination of the following members.Although the composition of the team will vary depending on the student and building, every team should have the Target Student’s teacher, and the student’s parent(s), if their schedule allows them to attend.

  • Parents
  • General education teachers
  • Special education teachers
  • Teacher consultants
  • Administrators
  • Speech and language therapists
  • School psychologists
  • Social workers
  • Occupational therapists
  • Paraprofessionals

Intensive training sites will have access to a START Autism Education Specialist who will be assigned to the site to provide assistance during the training series. This individual will assist the district in organizing the training days, applying new learning, and integrating the information across training sessions. Parental permission should be requested in order to share target student data with the START Project. A permission form will be provided.

Each training team will identify a Target Student to work with during the training in order to apply strategies and use assessment and intervention tools. This should be a student with ASD who needs support in the areas of independence, social interaction, and engagement.

Parent permission is needed for the sharing of information about the Target Student and parents are to be invited to participate as members of the training team. As part of the project evaluation, baseline and end of the year Target Student data will be requested for each team through the K-12 Target Student Reporting Form.A parent permission form will be provided.


We anticipate observable changes in the following areas:

  1. Target Student – progress in the core areas: behavior, social-communication and interaction, academic, independence, and family involvement.
  2. Team – ability to communicate, problem solve, make decisions, work collaboratively, understand the various disciplines and their different roles in supporting students with ASD.
  3. Team Members – increase in content knowledge and ability to apply that knowledge and serve as a more competent and successful team member within a multidisciplinary team.
  4. Program/System – positive changes in how students with ASD are supported within classrooms and buildings, identification of barriers to effective teaching and support and initial steps to address those barriers, and administrative support.
  5. Family –family members are active members of the team and participate in the development of goals, supports, and strategies to enhance learning and school engagement.

Because this is a grant-funded project, the training and support provided will be evaluated for effectiveness through pre-and post-questionnaires, surveys, student progress, building-level supports, and other measures. The evaluation will be arranged so that it is reasonable and meaningful to participants and the site.It is critical for teams participating in the training to work collaboratively with START staff to collect and share data during the two years of training and at follow up.