Agenda: Day 2
Empowering Classroom Team Members to Implement Strategies for Students with Autism
Speaker Bio:
Ellie Weber is a School-age Consultant at the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities at the University of South Florida. She has a Master's degree in Special Education from Duquesne University and Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. Ellie is currently pursuing a Doctoral degree with the Special Education Department at the University of South Florida. She has spent the last 15 years working with individuals with Developmental Disabilities and most of her work with those impacted by Autism Spectrum Disorders. Before joining CARD in January 2007, Ellie was an educator and coordinator of program services at Pressley Ridge School for Autism in Pittsburgh, PA. As a CARD Consultant, Ellie provides training, technical assistance, and direct assistance for families, school personnel and various community agencies.
Brief Workshop Description:
The success of students with Autism Spectrum Disorders can be a strong reflection on how a classroom team functions. The workshop facilitator will utilize activities to help teachers, para-educators, therapeutic and ancillary staff develop active communication, sensitive to one another's perspective in order to implement classroom strategies. Discussion, reference materials and examples will help members of a classroom team establish strategies to collaboratively organize the classroom, manage paperwork/documentation, implement student interventions, and collect required data. Another point of emphasis this workshop will explore is how a team shares the responsibility for creating incidental teaching opportunities to ensure teachable moments where the team members respond consistent with student goals.
Learning Objectives for Participants
Participants will be able to:
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Use interpersonal communication approaches to gain insight on their teammates perspectives of working with students with Autism Spectrum Disorders
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Use tools that organize the roles and responsibilities of educational team members
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Identify tactile, visual strategies to assist in team implementation of student behavior and academic interventions
