Strengthening the Capacity of Professionals Working in Schools with Children and Young People with ASD

Offering equal opportunities for children with autism spectrum disorder is a main concern in all the countries involved in the project. Current EU policies also reflect this approach and stipulate that “people with disabilities, in particular children (incl. those with autism spectrum disorder), need to be integrated into the general education system and provided with individual support in the best interest of the child” (European Disability Strategy 2010-2020).

Strengthening the Capacity of Professionals Working in Schools with Children and Young People with ASD is financed by Erasmus+ under the K2 Programme – Strategic partnership.

Courses info

In order to increase access to education for children and young people with with ASD, teachers should receive specialized courses with highly structured content (McCrimmon, 2015; Auby, 2015), that address the foundation of the skills needed for working with students with ASD (Fernandez-Lopez, 2013; Koegel et al., 2012), that are easily accessible, and preferably based on ICT advanced technologies (Pollard et al., 2014, Fernandez-Lopez et al., 2013).

Throughout the e-learning modules, the teachers will receive general information on ASD and will be taught how to work with and involve parents of children with ASD for the purpose of building an inclusive classroom environment and reducing the risk of early school drop out of children with ASD. The project addresses topics aimed to increase competences and skills of teachers which do not only concern providing high quality and inclusive classroom teaching but also providing support in the transfer of capabilities from school to community life for students with ASD and in building a partnership with parents in educating the child .

a. Understanding and managing ASD in the classroom
Inclusive education challenges students with autism and their teachers. For a student with autism to be able to succeed in inclusive or regular education, it is essential that teachers have knowledge on autism and what this means for students in school settings. This module focuses on what autism is, how it shows in school settings and how teachers can analyse and decrease behaviours that affect the student’s functioning. After completing the module, teachers will be able to understand autism in the classroom, recognize the educational needs of students with autism, and to respond to them in order to help the students learn.

b. Curriculum adaptation for students diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder
This module focuses on adapting the school environment to pupils diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders by presenting the most commonly used methods of adapting teaching to classrooms and providing practical examples of what should be adapted and how adaptation should be done. It also presents the decision-making process in adapting the curriculum (how to decide the level of adaptation for the student with TSA, the steps in making an effective decision about the adaptation) and offers alternatives to prevent inappropriate behaviour in the classroom.

c. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
The role of technology in teaching children with ASD became a topic of discussion in educational system. The innovation that ICT has brought into education has made tremendous changes to the lives of individuals with ASD. Thus, the use of ICT to acquire knowledge and skill has become an essential element in ASD education. This module focusing on providing examples of general and newly developed strategies that teachers can use in the class to help children with ASD to develop effective learning strategies. After completing the training, teachers will be able to integrate different scientifically validated technology strategies into their teaching methods for children with ASD. The newly learned strategies, once applied, will have significant effects on the learning performance of children with ASD. The integration of technology in the class will ease the work of teachers, their teaching methods being of high quality, adapted to the new developments in the field.

d. Transition from school to adult life of ASD students
The process of transition is understood as crossing a certain threshold and starting a new stage in life. This module addresses the need of young students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders to go through a decision-making process about what happens after school. This module presents how to carry out the examination of the size and areas of independence of the student with ASD. After completing the training, teacher will be able to assess the student’s needs, knowledge, predisposition and skills using practical tools and to design an action plan together with the family in order to obtain the independence of the young adult living with an autism spectrum disorder.

Erasmus +

Erasmus+ is the EU’s programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe. Set to last until 2020, Erasmus+ combines seven prior programmes and it has opportunities for a wide variety of individuals and organizations.

The aim of Erasmus+ is to contribute to the Europe 2020 strategy for growth, jobs, social equity and inclusion, as well as the EU’s strategic framework for education and training.

Specific issues tackled by the programme include:

Reducing unemployment, especially among young people
Promoting adult learning, especially for new skills and skills required by the labour market.
Encouraging young people to take part in European democracy
Supporting innovation, cooperation and reform
Reducing early school leaving
Promoting cooperation and mobility with the EU’s partner countries
The Erasmus+ programme is managed by the European Commission (the EU’s executive body), the Education, Audiovisual, and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), a series of National Agencies in Programme countries, and a series of National Offices in some Partner countries.

For more details https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/node_en

• Pop Anamaria Gabriela

  Pop Anamaria Gabriela has a Bachelor’s Degree in Special Education since 2008.
• Iolanda Sztrelenczuk

  Iolanda Sztrelenczuk has a Bachelor Degree in Literature and has been teaching for more than 20 years.
• Ph. D. Roxana Cardos

  Psychologist certified in clinical psychology and psychotherapy
• Ph. D. Anca Dobrean

  Head of Department – Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy/ Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Babes-Bolyai University

Pop Anamaria Gabriela

Pop Anamaria Gabriela has a Bachelor’s Degree in Special Education since 2008. She has been a school counselor and a partner for Autism Baia Mare Association since 2009 . Her trainer’s degree offered the opportunity to create a course accredited by the Ministry of Education and train over 500 teachers about adapting their teaching strategies when having a student with ASD in the classroom. She has also worked with other ONG`s as a school counselor, mainly with student with special needs.

Iolanda Sztrelenczuk

Iolanda Sztrelenczuk has a Bachelor Degree in Literature and has been teaching for more than 20 years. Ten years ago, she became interested in special education after her daughter was diagnosed with ASD. She attended a variety of courses to better understand the educational needs of students that learn differently. She started a pilot educational project – the first inclusive classes for students with ASD in mainstream Romanian schools – with great benefits for students with ASD but also for the teachers. She is also a trainer helping teachers to better understand the condition and adapt their teaching to the students needs.

Ph. D. Roxana Cardos

Roxana Cardoş, Ph.D., is a psychologist specialized in clinical psychology and psychotherapy, accredited by the Romanian Board of Psychologists (www.copsi.ro) and Albert Ellis Institute, SUA (http://albertellis.org/).

She received a bachelor’s degree in psychology (2011), an M.A. in “Clinical psychology, counseling and psychotherapy” (2013) and graduated at the Doctoral School “Psychodiagnostic and scientifically validated psychological interventions” (2017), at Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca.

Her expertise includes scientifically validated services for adolescents and adults, either individually or in groups, focusing on: 1) psychodiagnostics and treatment of anxiety and depressive disorders; 2) educational and vocational counseling; 4) personal development, and 5) promoting individual and organizational health.

Ph. D. Anca Dobrean

I am Professor, the head of Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy (see http://clinicalpsychology.psiedu.ubbcluj.ro/) at ”Babeş-Bolyai” University (BBU), Cluj-Napoca, Romania, one of the largest and most prestigious academic institutions in Eastern and Central Europe (see http://www.ubbcluj.ro).

My research is focused on the developing, investigating, and disseminating evidence-based interventions for child and adolescent mental health problems.

My program of research has brought significant contributions to both evidence based psychological assessment, and to evidence based intervention focused on behavioral and emotional problems in children and adolescents, more specifically, on assessing outcomes and mechanisms of emotional problems in children and adolescents.