LEAPS

With 1 in 68 children being served for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as of 2014 (CDS, 2014), there was an urgent demand to provide high-quality school-based services for ASD. Although evidence-based practices (EBPs) for educating children with ASD existed, the methods for selecting, implementing, and sustaining these practices in community school settings were often ineffective. School staff required support and specific strategies for how to implement EBPs to maximize outcomes for children with ASD.

This project addressed these needs in the following ways:

• Explored current implementation practices used by school districts across the state of California.
• Adapted an implementation support strategy (LOCI) for school district use.
• Evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of this adapted LOCI strategy for school staff.

The steps in this process included:

• Gathered information from school-based professionals about the current implementation practices used in their district through a brief online survey.
• Obtained feedback from school-based professionals about the training and leadership support needed to successfully implement EBP within their programs through focus groups.
• Tested the adapted LOCI strategy with school districts to determine its feasibility and to assess whether participating school staff found it helpful.

LEAPS/SDSU

This project explored leadership and other organizational factors related to the implementation of educational programs for students with ASD.

Contacts

Jessica Suhrheinrich, Associate Professor
[email protected]
619-594-2135