Tackling Autism via Paraprofessional Preparation (Project TAPP)
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Overview
abstract
With this project, we plan to support students with autism spectrum disorder through a tiered training and coaching model on the foundations and applications of behavior analysis for paraprofessionals who serve students with ASD. Further, we will incorporate, maintain, and update as needed the videos developed in our center’s ongoing project: Preparing Researchers, Educators, and Parents (PREP): Tools for Autism and Behavior. We will refer to the project as “Project TAPP.” Our target population are paraprofessionals who serve students with ASD in public and charter schools. Our goal is to provide direct services to 850 students with ASD by training 170 paraprofessionals through ABA-based workshops, tiered model of training and support, and ongoing access to continuing education training videos. We will achieve this by engaging in high-impact recruitment strategies, developing thorough and updated workshops to support paraprofessionals in the acquisition of applied behavior analysis intervention skills, taking part in regular evaluation and continuous improvement, using behavior skills training and a tiered approach to continue to support and coach workshop participants once workshops have concluded, and ensuring up-to-date ongoing access to continuing education videos by maintaining and revising videos as-needed.
