Autism Project Services

[ Links ]

Introduction

Two to ten children out of every 10,000 have autistic symptoms severe enough to be diagnosed as autistic (estimate dependent upon the diagnostic criteria used) . Autism is a neurologic disability whose symptoms generally manifest themselves within the first three years of development. Children and adolescents with both mild to severe forms of autism often exhibit the following characteristics:

• impaired social interaction
• difficulty in relating to people, objects, and events
• very limited or very unusual interests and activities
• transition difficulties
• difficulty with conceptual and imaginative thought processes
• repetitive body movements or behavior patterns

The severity of autistic symptoms can vary a great deal among those diagnosed with autism. Students with autism pose a unique challenge to educators because of the variety of cognitive, behavioral, physical, and psychosocial impairments they may exhibit.

A lack of awareness and understanding of the unique characteristics and the educational needs of this population often prevent students with autism from receiving an appropriate education. If students with autism are to receive an appropriate education, a system must be in place to ensure that educational personnel serving these students are trained in the area of autism and have available expert resource personnel to provide technical assistance on the extreme variety of individual cases. The Kansas State Department of Education Student Support Services addresses these training needs through the services provided by the Neurologic Disabilities Support Project.

Return to Top

Services

Training opportunities, resource referral, consultation, and technical assistance are available to Kansas school personnel and students with autism. Local education agencies, parents, medical personnel, and others serving Kansas students with autism can request these services.

In addition, the project serves as a resource center for disseminating information about autism to school personnel and parents in the state of Kansas. Written materials as well as community and agency resource listings have been developed. Services and resources are free of charge to Kansas educators and parents and are available upon request. To request services for a Kansas student, contact Jane Goetz, Autism Coordinator.

Return to Top

History

The Kansas State Department of Education Student Support Services is dedicated to serving students with autism. Autism services provided through the Neurologic Disabilities Support Project include technical assistance and consultation throughout the state of Kansas. The development and delivery of technical assistance and consultation, effective resources, presentations, and written materials to educators and parents of students with autism is a goal of the project.

Delivery models which have successfully provided technical assistance, consultation, and resource referral to help assure appropriate educational programming for students with traumatic brain injury and AD/HD were expanded to include students with autism in 1998. The funding and expansion of services to students with autism reflects the Kansas Department of Education's continued commitment to providing direct educational services to students with neurologic disabilities.

Return to Top

Funding

Autism services are provided through a grant funded by the Kansas Department of Education Student Support Services. These grant funds are administered by the Northeast Kansas Educational Service Center. The project is housed at the Developmental Disabilities Center (DDC) of University of Kansas Medical Center.

Return to Top

Contact Us

For additional information contact Janet Tyler, Ph.D. or Lee Stickle, M.S.Ed. at:

Neurologic Disabilities Support Project
Mail Stop 3055
University of Kansas Medical Center
Developmental Disabilities Center (DDC)
3901 Rainbow Blvd.
Kansas City, KS 66160
Email: jtyler@kumc.edu
Email: lstickle@kumc.edu
Phone: (913) 588-5943
FAX:  (913) 588-5942

Return to Top