Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2022
Abstract
Purpose
This paper describes a case study of a developmental program evaluation on the Autism Community Toolkit, a collaborative skills training program for parents and school professionals. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of the training on participants’ knowledge, competence and perceived collaboration; and potential improvements to the training program.
Design/methodology/approach
The program included multiple training sessions for families and school professionals, designed to educate participants on autism, evidence-based interventions and to increase home-school communication and collaboration. Data collection methods included pre- and post-measures and feedback forms.
Findings
Results indicated that the training program was beneficial for participants overall. Pre- and posttest measures indicated growth in knowledge and competency in autism interventions. While there were no statistically significant differences in the quantitative measure of collaboration, qualitative results suggest that participants reported increased collaboration posttraining.
Practical implications
Overall, the training program was effective, and the ongoing implementation assessment was conducive to continuous improvement. The authors also discuss difficulties with implementation and recommendations for future intervention implementation.
Originality/value
This case study provides practical information about creating, evaluating and improving a unique intervention designed to support school–home collaboration.
Recommended Citation
Griffiths, A.J., Baker, D., Brady, J., Kennedy, K., Valladolid, A., Wiegand, R. and Delgado, R. (2022). Increasing collaboration and knowledge in school communities to enhance outcomes for autistic students. Advances in Autism. https://doi.org/10.1108/AIA-03-2022-0014
Peer Reviewed
1
Copyright
Emerald
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Included in
Special Education and Teaching Commons, Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons
Comments
This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Advances in Autism, in 2022 following peer review. This article may not exactly replicate the final published version. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at https://doi.org/10.1108/AIA-03-2022-0014.