We received ARRA funding from the National Institute of Mental Health to examine three types of professional development training and compare their effects on child and teacher outcomes. We
will follow 25 children whose teachers receive only basic online autism training, 25 children whose teachers and parents receive consultation from the research team followed by in-classroom teacher coaching, and 25 children whose teachers and parents receive consultation followed by web-based teacher coaching.

One of the goals of the National Association of School Psychologist's Autism Interest group is to identify the needs and supports of school psychologists. The Autism Services Research Group, in cooperation with the Interest group, has been charged with investigating school psychologists' knowledge and skills in identifying, evaluating, and providing interventions for students with autism spectrum disorders. An electronic survey will be emailed to state-sponsored school psychology organizations as well as other interested parties in order to understand these issues. Results from the study will be shared at the 2010 NASP Annual Convention in Chicago, Illinois during the Autism Interest group meeting.
Link to take the Survey...
Link to NASP 2010 Presentation...

Our pilot study "Outcomes of Teacher Training in Autism" evaluated the effectiveness of a
parent-teacher collaborative consultation training approach, known as COMPASS (Ruble &
Dalrymple, 2002). Preliminary findings are positive and our current research builds upon our
findings. The study which was sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health (Grant
number 1R34MH073071-01A1) has been completed. Read the UK College of Education research
brief about Dr. Ruble's research in 2008.