[031] MTSU CREATES NEW COURSES FOR THOSE WHO WORK WITH AUTISTIC YOUTH

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 22, 2009
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Lisa L. Rollins, lrollins@mtsu.edu, 615-494-8857

MTSU CREATES NEW COURSES FOR THOSE WHO WORK WITH AUTISTIC YOUTH
Elementary & Special Education Prof Designs, Teaches ASD-Related Grad Classes

(MURFREESBORO)—When it comes to training professionals who work with children with autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, the College of Education and Behavioral Science at MTSU is “very cutting edge,” declared Dr. Jim Calder.
A professor of elementary and special education, Calder said the addition of Dr. Lesley Craig-Unkefer, associate professor of elementary and special education, to the MTSU faculty is not just a win for the university and the students who enroll in her classes, but also for the community at larger, thanks to her extensive background and research experience in working with children who have ASD.
Although Craig-Unkefer joined the faculty only last year, already she has developed new coursework that focuses on working with children with ASD.
According to Autism Connection, ASD is “a collective term given to a group of bio-neurological developmental disabilities that impair the way that individuals interact and communicate with others.”
Because autism influences the normal development of the brain in areas such as social interaction, communication skills and cognitive function, those with autism generally have difficulty with verbal and nonverbal communication, social interactions and play activities, experts say.
With symptoms that span from mild to severe, ASD generally is diagnosed when individuals are young, said Craig-Unkefer, who specializes in training teachers and other professionals—including social workers and counselors—how to recognize autism spectrum disorders in children and work with ASD learners.
Open to master’s-level students, the autism-related classes (three-credit hours each) that Craig-Unkefer developed are titled Introduction to ASD (SPED 6700) and Methods of Instruction for Students with ASD (SPED 6730). The spring 2009 semester was the first time the former class was offered, she said, and nine students enrolled. The Intro class will be offered again this fall.
To enroll in the new ASD classes, graduate students need only an interest in the subject, shared Craig-Unkefer, who said the Intro course had a variety of student backgrounds its first semester.
“It was interesting in that all of the students had some level of experience with students with autism, from very minimal to they had seen a student with autism in their class to they had students with autism who they were instructors for,” she shared.
Because there is no single best treatment package for all children diagnosed with ASD, it is crucial that decisions about best treatments be made by the parents of the children with ASD, with assistance from trusted experts. However, parents are always a child’s first teacher and advocate, stressed both Calder and Craig-Unkefer, and as such, vital to a child’s ongoing learning and support.

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The new curriculum that Craig-Unkefer developed and teaches at MTSU, however, is for those professionals who work with children with ASD and their families. And already, there is discussion that MTSU is positioned to create an ASD teaching certification, if Tennessee allows such a certification or licensure in the future.
“The state of Tennessee does not have currently have a licensure or certificate for ASD at this point,” she said, “and I don’t know when that will occur, but in preparation for that, I would like to get more of our ASD courses up and running.”
Beyond the current ASD offerings Craig-Unkefer teaches, there are plans for an ASD practicum, she noted, and “because there is an interest, we’ve discussed developing one-hour online courses that have specific (ASD) content that would reach out to individuals in more rural areas or who would just prefer to get that information online.”
Regarding the requirements for creating an ASD certification at MTSU, although situations vary, “The state allows universities to put together a program,” Calder said, “but generally, anywhere from 12 to 15 hours is what they ask.
“We already have a course on the books, Working with Families (SPED 6720), which Dr. Craig-Unkefer would likely tie into (to create the ASD certification),” he continued. “And she plans on developing three, and so if you combine that with what she already has developed, it would be a total of 15 hours.”
Calder said those who take the new ASD courses from MTSU versus the traditional in-service autism training most receive have an edge when it comes to gleaning top-notch training in working with children with ASD in the classroom.
“(MTSU is) going at this kind of training from a broad-based perspective, a professional perspective and a university perspective, rather than get as much as you can from this expert who visits or that expert,” he remarked.
“We feel very, very cutting edge in this respect, because we have an expert. … “(Craig-Unkefer is) an expert in preschool education, special education and an expert in the area of autism spectrum disorders—someone people will learn a great deal from and someone who not only has not a knowledge of those kinds of disorders, but a working knowledge from hands-on experience of working with these children and their teachers.”
For more information on MTSU’s new ASD-related courses, please contact the Department of Elementary and Special Education by calling 615-898-2680.