Heartland & Waukee Staff Team Up For Autism & Behavior Study

April 6, 2011

Honored at the March Heartland Board of Directors meeting for their role in the Waukee autism and behavior study were, front row, left to right, Roxanne Cumings and Stacy Volmer, and back row, Earl Bridgewater, board president, Angelisa Fynaardt and Dave Tilly. Missing was Andrea Matheson.

With continuous improvement as its goal, the Waukee Schools decided to take an in-depth look at the services provided to its students with autism spectrum disorders and challenging behaviors. When the time for a study arrived, district leaders knew just who to call—their colleagues at Heartland AEA!

“We have a number of students in Waukee on the autism spectrum and who have challenging behaviors,” Roxanne Cumings, Director of Student Services at Waukee, said. “We had a desire to learn about differentiation and how much we were individualizing services for students. We needed to know how to structure a survey (to gather this type of information).”

“We had been working with Dave (Tilly) (Director of Innovation & Accountability/JO) and coordinating all of Heartland’s services in the social-emotional area, so this was a natural partnership,” Stacy Volmer (Program Assistant, Challenging Behavior & Autism/JO) said of the collaboration between Waukee and Heartland.

Cumings said the study was necessary so the district had objective data from which to draw. “We had lots of ‘heart’ data, but we didn't’t have a lot of ‘hard’ data,” she said. “We wanted to focus on student learning and know that students are doing well in special ed programs.” When Heartland staff stepped in to assist the district, they decided it would be best to study services to students with autism as well as the district’s overall approach to dealing with behavior issues for all students. The study looked at the supports the district provides to its students as well as the services that are available through Heartland to assist students.

Data were collected through a cooperative effort between Waukee and Heartland staff. Information was gathered through reviewing Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) implementation information (which shows how the district as a whole teaches students about appropriate behavior); reviewing a representative sample of students’ Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), Functional Behavior Assessments (FBAs) and Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs); and surveying Waukee teachers and Heartland staff such as school psychologists and special education consultants.

District leaders had the idea for the study last May and the groundwork for it was laid last summer. Data were collected at the beginning of the 2010-11 school year and were analyzed in November.

Some of the key findings from the study include the following:
• Waukee staff is actively teaching expected behaviors to students across the PK-12 continuum.
• Schools in the district are using schoolwide screening data to identify problems early and provide early intervention regarding problem behaviors.
• Although teachers report that implementing BIPs may be stressful, they reported that they have the support and skills needed for implementation and they believe that the plans are in the best interest of the students and will be effective.
• Programming for students with autism is individualized and includes evidence-based practices per the National Autism Center standards report.
• Multiple school staff is working collaboratively to support students with autism and behavioral needs.
• The additional involvement of AEA staff members with behavioral expertise appears to be related to increased progress on behavioral goals.

“From the general ed perspective, we’ve provided a good foundation with PBIS teaching excepted behaviors and encouraging students to display them,” Angelisa Fynaardt (Professional Learning & Leadership Consultant – Positive Behavior Supports/KN) said. “We’ve been using the problem solving process with teachers as well. (This process teaches educators the skills they need to respond to individual behavior issues and create specific interventions for each situation.) Special education students at Waukee also have high quality, fantastic behavior assessment and behavior intervention plans.”

It was noted that the district is currently using 82 percent of the 67 National Autism Center strategies for supporting students with autism. The use of these strategies ensures that students with autism are receiving programming that is individualized to their specific needs.

Also a student at Waukee is three times more likely to be making progress on goals if he or she has a behavior plan, and if two or more AEA staff members are involved, students are making the most progress.

Some of the next steps that emerged from
the study include the following:
General Education:
• Continue to implement PBIS across all buildings in the district.
• Continue to expand the range of general education intervention supports available.

Special Education:
• Make staff more aware of the National Autism Center intervention components and ensure they are documenting them on IEPs.
• Continue to make an emphasis on the connection between progress monitoring and instructional decision making to increase the likelihood that each student realizes success and makes progress towards goals.

“I think what we found is that we’re (Waukee and Heartland) really dedicated to seeing kids being as independent as possible,” Volmer said. “I think that we’ve found a shared philosophy and vision for kids to be the best they can be.”

“This is a collaborative effort of working with Heartland folks,” Cumings said. “I loved the process and where it will take us. I am proud of this study and proud of the results and the on-going partnership to improve services for students.”

The key players that assisted with the study have shared their findings with the Governor’s Autism Council and will share them with the Department of Education’s State Special Education Advisory Group and the AEA boards of directors.

Volmer says that Heartland has started to do these types of studies with other districts as well. “We want this type of assessment to be something we can provide to our schools,” she said.

Cumings notes that the study will be repeated in two years. “The data from this first study will be used as a baseline to see where we’re at,” she said. “We always want to make improvements.”

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Heartland AEA is an intermediate education agency serving 11 counties and 136,000 students in Central Iowa. The Agency is committed every day to helping people grow, develop and learn.