This two-day workshop (Wednesday, September 18th and Thursday, September 19th, 2019) is designed to provide school district evaluation teams with opportunities to develop and implement a multidisciplinary team process for evaluating students suspected of having ASD. Participants are encouraged to register and attend both days as a team. Teams are encouraged to include a Licensed Specialist in School Psychology (LSSP), an Educational Diagnostician, and a Speech-Language Pathologist. Additional team members can be included, but a maximum of six members is desired.
Day 1 of this training will focus on building the team capacity for assessing ASD. As a result of this intensive training, participants will be able to: 1) Develop district capacity for implementing a team approach to the evaluation of ASD; 2) Build skills in the use of standardized and non-standardized evaluation tools techniques and integration of data into evaluation reports; 3) Become familiar with current resources and materials designed to assist in developing recommendations for evidence-based programming and interventions.
Day 2 of this training will focus on the use of a visual framework and descriptive language to individualize the diagnosis of autism spectrum differences across age and ability levels using the MIGDAS-2 evaluation process. As a result of this intensive training, participants will be able to: 1) Use a visual organizational framework in line with IDEA criteria to recognize the full range of autism spectrum differences in school-aged students (preschool through secondary); 2) Learn to use descriptive language in explaining autism spectrum differences to parents and teachers;
3) Gain essential tools to conduct a sensory-based diagnostic interview with students whose communication skills range from verbally fluent to functionally nonverbal using the recently released MIGDAS-2 protocols.