This article originally appeared in START Connecting in September 2024. 

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. 

We want to highlight our many partners across the state and introduce a new Partnership page on our website that features our partners and their work. We collaborate with these partners in a variety of ways and we think you can benefit from learning more about what they do and the resources they offer. 

Although START is often identified as the state project that provides training and resources for autistic students and students with higher support needs, we rely on the expertise of partners in our work. 

Here are some of the ways we have collaborated with our partners:

• Creating guidance documents for practice and collaboration with Alt-Shift and the Michigan Alliance for Families (MAF)
• Aligning the work of START and the Michigan Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MiMTSS) Technical Assistance TA Center 
• Coordinating the efforts of Unified Champion Schools (UCS) and START’s Peer to Peer support
• Presenting and exhibiting across partner conferences and leadership days
• Sharing of trainings and resources across projects to integrate and layer all resources in a school or district (e.g., school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports, augmentative and alternative communication, inclusion practices).
• Distributing a school professional survey to obtain feedback from across the state to inform the 2024 update to the Michigan Autism State Plan

Here are three examples of resources produced by START in collaboration with our partners to inform and support the work of school-based staff:

The Joint Statement on the Use of Prompting was a collaborative effort by Alt+Shift, Michigan Alliance for Families, and START and supported by MDE OSE. It arose from questions about the use of a prompting hierarchy and when the use of physical prompts are appropriate. We wanted to communicate a common message to educators and families. This led to a collaborative discussion about best practices related to prompting and the creation of resources to guide the use of prompting in a dignified way that promotes independence. 

We are often asked how the work of START, such as coaching and behavior support, connects to a MTSS framework in a school. The foundational principles and practices of the MiMTSS TA center and START are well-matched since they come from a similar research base and philosophy. To articulate this to school staff, we created the MiMTSS TA Center and START Project: Two Complementary State-Funded Projects document that shows the alignment between the two projects and how they complement each other as part of a comprehensive tiered support model. 

A collaboration between START’s Peer to Peer and Special Olympics’ Unified Champion Schools (UCS) has led to the coordination of these partners in schools across the state. While we each have strategies to bring students together to develop friendships, the goals are the same and outcomes are even better when we work together. 

Ultimately, the work of START is only possible through partnerships and collaboration across the state. These collaborations allow us to overcome the challenges of working independently and utilize our strengths to create inclusive educational environments and positive experiences for every student.

Written by: Kellie Fitzgerald, MPNL, Strategic Communications, Design, and Development Specialist and Amy Matthews, PhD, BCBA, Project Director

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