|  Admissions  |  Resources for Students  |   Resources for Faculty & Staff  |  About the Graduate School  | 

Huckabay Fellowship Announcement

Huckabay Fellowship Application

Huckabay FAQ Page

Guidelines for Huckabay Mentors

Fellows and Mentors 

Examples of Successful Proposals

Preparing Future Faculty

Huckabay Teaching Fellowship Proposal
Applicant: Nancy Rosenberg
Mentor: Ilene Schwartz

PROJECT STATEMENT:

 The Problem:  In the past 10 years, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a life-long and potentially devastating neurodevelopmental disorder, has gone from being a rare disorder to what some are now calling an epidemic.  ASD, which was once diagnosed in 1 to 2 of every 10,000 people, now affects 1 of every 166 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).  While the reasons behind this dramatic increase in occurrence are unknown and hotly debated, the impact on our public school system is clear.  In Washington State, the number of children with autism in the public schools has gone from 253 to 3736 over the last 10 years (website of the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction). Schools are straining to meet the challenge.  The complexity of the needs presented by these children and the cost of providing them with a free and appropriate public education are overwhelming.

 One of the most difficult and prevalent issues facing teachers who wish to incorporate those affected with ASD into classrooms and programs is the challenging behaviors that these children often exhibit.  Challenging behaviors include both those behaviors that make the child dangerous to himself or others and also behaviors that impede the child’s learning in other ways. People with ASD typically present with behaviors much more severe than those seen in the general population, and they also present with behaviors not seen in the typical population, such as self-injurious behavior (e.g., hand biting) and self-stimulatory behavior (e.g., flapping hands).  Challenging behaviors can interfere with the child’s access to general education environments and, if not eliminated or at least mitigated in childhood, can result in lifelong exclusion from community involvement.

 The underlying deficits of autism often make the approaches we typically use for dealing with challenging behaviors in children ineffective.  For example, the commonly used tactic of putting children in timeout can actually serve to reward a child with autism who may prefer the isolation of a timeout to the social activity from which they are being removed.  School personnel have quickly learned that the “normal” approach does not work and often makes the problem worse, but too few of them have had training in what does work.  There are effective and positive strategies for dealing with the behaviors, but neither special education nor general education teachers have the expertise in these strategies.  When school districts seek training and consultation in how to manage the behaviors of their students with ASD, they are often unable to find people with sufficient knowledge to help them.

 At this time, the University of Washington does not have adequate coursework to[JPR1]  effectively prepare teachers for the behavior problems they will face with their students with ASD. Currently there is only one course offered on autism in the College of Education (EDSPE 525) and this course is consistently now filled far beyond capacity. EDSPE 525 addresses challenging behaviors only briefly because of the wide range of other issues that must be covered.   This project would involve the development and teaching of a class focusing specifically on preparing teachers and other school personnel to effectively handle challenging behaviors in students with ASD.

 The Project:

 There is actually a solid research base on how to deal effectively with[JPR2]  challenging behaviors in children with autism.  Positive Behavior Support (PBS) is a method of dealing with challenging behaviors that focuses on discovering the function the behavior is performing for the child and providing the child with an alternative appropriate way to achieve that function.  PBS, which also emphasizes arranging the environment to prevent challenging behaviors, has been shown repeatedly to result in both reductions in challenging behaviors and increases in the quality of life for individuals with autism.  There is also substantial research on the application of PBS to the more[JPR3]  intractable problems of self-injurious and self-stimulatory behavior.

 We propose a course to provide an intensive study in dealing with challenging behaviors in children with autism using the bases of research in PBS[JPR4] .  The Huckabay Fellowship would be used to design the course, which would then be taught in the following quarter by the Fellow.  After taking the course, students would be able to 1) demonstrate an understanding of the challenging behaviors that can manifest themselves in children with ASD 2) demonstrate an understanding of the characteristics and deficits of ASD that both lead to these challenging behaviors and affect the way we approach challenging behaviors with these children and 3) demonstrate an understanding of Positive Behavior Support and the way it can be used to effectively reduce challenging behaviors in students with ASD.

 Course development would include a review of sample syllabi from other universities offering a similar course, development of course readings and a course website, and identification of effective instructional strategies to teach the course material.  Feedback on proposed course materials would be solicited from teachers in the field[JPR5]  and parents of students with autism.  The mentors will lend their substantial expertise in both teaching and in the field of challenging behaviors for children with autism in developing all aspects of the course.

 Assessment of project: 

Assessment of the project will include an evaluation of both the students’ learning and the fellow’s teaching.  Student learning will be assessed through on-going review of student assignments by both the fellow and the mentors.  Students’ assessment of the class and the fellow’s teaching will be accomplished through on-going assessment via Catalyst web-based tools.  Both faculty mentors will also provide periodic feedback on the fellow’s teaching through classroom visits and weekly meetings with the fellow.

| Return to the Top |
 

 The Graduate School   G-1 Communications Building    Box 353770  
University of Washington  Seattle  WA   98195   Phone: 206-543-5900