START Connecting Articles
Taking Steps to Develop a Coaching Structure: Learning from One District’s Experience
The START Regional Collaborative Networks (RCN) have priorities they work on each year through our partnership. One priority is to establish a Coaching Structure. This structure involves recruiting and training building coaches, as well as offering ongoing professional learning and support to help coaches work closely with building teams and classroom staff.
Writing Your Story with Peer to Peer Resources
Are you ready to join over 600 buildings statewide with a Peer to Peer program, or enhance your existing program with fresh activities? Either way, START has excellent resources to explore! Before you begin, keep this STARTism in mind: START Somewhere and START Now. Each Peer to Peer program has their own unique story that has been written and edited over time, but they all began by taking their first step. We invite you to take that step today!
Partnerships: We Can Do More Together
Partnerships are essential in driving meaningful, systems-level change for autistic and neurodivergent students in Michigan. By bringing together diverse perspectives and resources, partnerships foster collaboration and innovation in a way that allows us to leverage each other’s strengths and achieve goals that would be difficult to accomplish separately.
Learning from the Pandemic: Creative Approaches to Peer to Peer
When unexpected situations arise, it creates opportunities to adjust our practices and work in new ways. Although the pandemic presented many hardships for schools, students, and staff, the challenges inspired innovation and tenacity in an attempt to persevere and maintain important connections. This was especially true of peer engagement among students with and without disabilities...
Read Learning from the Pandemic: Creative Approaches to Peer to Peer
Revealing the Double Empathy Problem
At age 2, my son’s first words didn’t seem to “stick.” He wasn’t imitating speech sounds, and his response to his name became less reliable. During the preschool years, his teachers noted his solitary play, difficulty sitting for circle time, and sensitivity to the feel of sunscreen and certain types of clothing. As a speech-language pathologist, I knew these observations were consistent with autism, but I resisted the diagnosis...
Collaborative Planning for Inclusive Lessons
When we support students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) in the Least Restrictive Environment, we are committed to identifying opportunities for meaningful engagement with general education content. Intentional, systematic planning is needed to ensure all students, including those with extensive support needs, are active members of the classroom with authentic opportunities to learn alongside peers...
Read more about Collaborative Planning for Inclusive Lessons
Behavioral Response Scripts: Whose Line is it?
Did you know that approximately ⅔ of the content on the nine major streaming platforms is scripted programming? Yet many of us still enjoy a good unscripted program, like House Hunters or Real Housewives. Why do we like unscripted TV? Is it because of the voyeuristic nature of watching a couple decide which home to buy or to escape our day-to-day reality and see how the “other half” lives? Maybe! Unscripted shows have a time and place, but not at school...
[1706029709].jpg)
Regional Collaborative Networks: Creating Stronger Communities to Support Students
When the START Project launched in 2001, we wondered how a small team of START staff could address the needs of students with autism in a large, diverse state. As we connected with ISDs and districts across the state, we immediately knew that our best hope of supporting students with autism in every part of Michigan was by working regionally with the staff and administrators embedded in schools. They were our best resource as they knew their communities, students, and families best...
Resource Feature: Association for Science in Autism Treatment (ASAT)
This is the 25th anniversary of the Association for Science in Autism Treatment (ASAT), an organization and website dedicated to helping individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) access effective and ethical interventions that are supported by scientific evidence. ASAT is a not-for-profit organization committed to disseminating evidence-based information and advocating for the use of scientific methods to guide decision-making and combat inaccurate information about interventions...
iQuest: Begin your Independence Quest
START is happy to introduce the iQuest, or independence Quest! The iQuest is an electronic and updated version of the Passport. The Passport was designed as a physical booklet, where teams and families identified relevant independence and self-advocacy goals by grade level and tracked them. While the Passport helped schools and families address important, age-appropriate independence skills, we received feedback...
LRE and Belonging Practices Across the Lifespan
To create inclusive environments that foster belonging, we can no longer consider it standard practice for students, from early childhood to adulthood, to be removed from their natural settings because of a label, test scores, behavior, or ways of communicating (Taub, 2021). IDEA indicates a strong preference for educating children with disabilities in regular classes alongside their peers without disabilities in the definition of Least Restrictive Environment.
Read more about LRE and Belonging Practices Across the Lifespan.
What’s happening in ‘23-24!
With so many schools starting at different times, we know some of you have been in school for nearly a month while others are just getting started. Wherever you are in the schedule - welcome back! We are eager to reconnect through trainings, Communities of Practice (CoP), Regional Collaborative Network (RCN) meetings, and various projects.
Peer to Peer 2.0: Level Up!
In March 2023, we held our first Peer to Peer 2.0: Level Up training. Peer to Peer 2.0 emerged from a desire to communicate updated resources and content to established teams, dive deeper into advanced Peer to Peer content, and offer the opportunity for teams across the state to network and share ideas. We want to share exciting information about the next level of Peer to Peer...
Promoting Inclusion and Belonging Everyday
Inclusion is a word that can evoke various images and meanings to each one of us. Meaningful inclusion is demonstrated when people with disabilities are involved in natural, everyday activities and given opportunities to be involved in ways similar to their peers who do not have a disability. First and foremost, inclusion is a human right. Everyone, regardless of whether they have a disability, deserves access to full participation in the community, including education...
A Joint Statement on the Use of Prompting
Prompting is a tool for teaching that may be used to assist anyone learning a skill. It is especially important for learners who may need additional cues to accelerate learning and reduce errors and frustration. Imagine a student who is interested in using an iPad app for communication. During acquisition, circumstances are created to foster engagement and motivate communication.
Transition: Empowering Students through Self-Determination
Student empowerment is important for all students, with and without disabilities, for achieving greater independence. It involves helping students make choices and decisions that prepare them for the transition out of high school and to adulthood. I’m Determined is a comprehensive resource with tools and supports to promote self-determination with students from early childhood through young adulthood.
Read more about Empowering Students through Self-determination