Educators and Autism

The article "Educators Deal with the Growing Problem of Autism" by Fran Smith, makes me reflect and evaluate the way that my school and district programs for students with autism. With the diagnosis of autism on the rise, I believe the most important piece is the communication between home and school. Indicators of autism are usually early on, around the age of two. By encouraging and seeking out communication from the parents, schools are able to hear about routines and schedules that may be in place and that work for the student.
My school has sent a teacher from every grade as well as special education teachers and school counselor to START training. START is the Statewide Autism Resources and Training Project in Michigan. Through this training, our team of educators meets monthly on each individual student to discuss progress and course of action. In between meetings, data is being collected on strategies that are being tried to see what is working and what needs some adjustments. I think these meetings are extremely important because we are looking at each student individually because we know that no two students are exactly alike. These meetings have also helped to set up peer to peer support for the students when needed.
In reading this article, I agreed with many of the points that were made. It also made me optimistic in the way that my school and team programs for students with autism.