Capacity Building

Building sustainable and comprehensive programs for students with ASD pre-K through post- secondary can be accomplished through supporting educators in a variety of ways.   Effective staff development happens when professionals are engaged in active learning around specific content and receive on-going coaching and support.   This comprehensive and coordinated approach to staff development has created teams of educators, at specific training sites, who model evidence-based practices and can assess and individualize curriculum to meet the needs of students in both special and general education classrooms.

The OrPATS network of training sites, and supportive coaches, are available to train others within the local region.  When instructional staff visit training sites they are empowered to replicate that successful model in their own environment.   Training sites model implementation of evidence-based practices and curricula as well as provide a consistent, stable and organized setting for coaches to train others.

Currently 40 training sites are actively available to train others.  Of these sites, 13 serve preschool students, 18 serve elementary students and 9 serve the secondary level.  Training sites are a mix of special education and general education settings.  Since 2003 83% of the training sites continue to be involved with the project. Most importantly, the number of students impacted both directly and indirectly by the OrPATS Project has grown exponentially since 2003.