Project Description:
Consultation with Children with Autism. Off-site activities most often involved working with educational agencies regarding educational services to students with severe developmental disabilities. These school contracts may involve a few contacts, often around IEP development and implementation, (often in rural areas and/or out of state), or they may involve full-year contracts in which a team from JFK Partners provides ongoing consultation and training around development and implementation of an educational program for children with intensive needs who are not progressing well. These activities support inclusive educational activities and are designed to build capacity in the schools for improving inclusive educational activities for children with severe developmental disabilities. Various clinical training activities have also occurred in a number of community sites, including training on assessment instruments and practices and training on intervention techniques. Although challenges with a single student or two often serves to initiate the consultation process, the collaborative efforts between the JFK consultation team and the community team, has clear and direct benefits for a number of other students, as well as additional school staff, ultimately leading to greater systemic change. The JFK school consultation program has been well-received as evidenced by frequent requests from school districts in Colorado and surrounding states for return visits.
Social skills groups are conducted for three age groups (7-12 years, 12-16 years, and 18 and over) on a weekly basis. Participants in social skills groups typically have a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder, although some participants have had other sorts of challenges that have influenced the development of their social skills in a fashion similar to autism spectrum disorders. Social skills groups are interdisciplinary, with input from psychology, occupational therapy, and speech/language therapy. Typically, the groups are led by three facilitators, two of whom are staff or faculty and one who is a trainee. The groups vary in length, based on age level, from 1 to 2 hours. Learning experiences include discussion, role-play, experiential learning exercises, and recreational and community-based activities. An attempt is made to balance the activities between verbally and non-verbally oriented formats. Social skills group therapy has thus far proven to be an effective and popular format, as our groups have wait lists for services and many families choose to participate in the groups over successive sessions.
Target Audience:
Community Trainees / Short term trainees, Professionals and Para-Professionals, Family Members/Caregivers, Adults with Disabilities, Children/Adolescents with Disabilities/SHCN
