Lessons Learned from a University-School District Partnership to Improve Autism Care in Public Schools

ABSTRACT

In 2008 a community-academic partnership was formed between the School District of Philadelphia and our university-based team, Philadelphia Autism Instructional Methods Support. Through this partnership, we conducted a large-scale randomized trial of autism interventions in public schools, which indicated concerns related to implementation fidelity despite high-quality consultation to an evidence-based curriculum. Since the conclusion of the initial study, we have sustained this partnership to continue providing access to evidence-based care for autistic students. In this paper, we describe our iterative process of adapting consultation for autism support teachers, present findings regarding the impact of these services on teacher implementation fidelity, and map elements of our model onto well-established sustainment strategies for implementing change. In sharing this model, we hope to provide a blueprint for organizations conducting similar work and for those interested in empirically testing or applying strategies for sustainment of EBPs in school settings.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10474412.2024.2303512

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health [2T32MH109433-06].

Notes on contributors

Jordan Albright

Jordan Albright, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the University of South Alabama’s Department of Psychology. Her program of research is focused on developing feasible, acceptable, and sustainble methods for implementing evidence-based practices in schools, particularly rurally located and under-resourced schools. She also aims to integrate neurodiversity affirming practices and self-determination theory into school-based interventions for autistic youth.

Alyssa Hernandez

Alyssa Hernandez, is a clinical psychology graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania in the Department of Psychology, and is affiliated with the Penn Center for Mental Health. She investigates access to and quality of behavioral and mental health services for neurodiverse children from underserved and under resourced communities. She is interested in applying development economic approaches to improve and complement support services; understanding how to incorporate cultural and contextual factors to better intervention implementation; and testing system-level changes that can lead to equitable service access.

Zinnia Piotrowski

Zinnia Piotrowski, M.Ed., BCBA is a certified special education teacher, board certified behavior analyst, and former autism support teacher with experience in elementary and middle schools. She is a school-based consultant on the PhillyAIMS team at the Center for Mental Health at the University of Pennsylvania and has a special interest in school-based services for students with autism.

Jacqueline Russo

Jacqueline Russo, Ph.D., BCBA is a certified special education teacher with experience teaching autism support in grades K-2. She is a school-based consultant on the PhillyAIMS team at the Center for Mental Health at the University of Pennsylvania. Her professional interests include supporting teachers in the implementation of evidence-based practices for students with autism in under-resourced settings and designing effective instruction to enhance ongoing professional development for educators.

Diana Cooney

Diana Cooney, MSEd is a clinical supervisor and school-based consultant on the Philly AIMS team at the Center for Mental Health at the University of Pennsylvania. She works on school-based projects, providing classroom consultation to Autism Support teachers as well as, school-level support on inclusive practices, in the School District of Philadelphia. er area of expertise include social skills instruction and inclusive practices. She is passionate about improving the quality of inclusive education for children with autism and delivering services to under-served populations.

Michelle Nutini

Michelle Nutini, EdD, is the Director of Learning Services at Stages Learning and former Autism Support Coordinator for the School District of Philadelphia. Her work focuses on applying research to practice to build capacity and support educators’ implementation of evidence-based practices to improve outcomes for students with autism and learning challenges.

Nicole Sabatino

Nicole Sabatino, is currently a Coordinator for Autistic Support Services for the School District of Philadelphia. Her research interests include best practices and strategies for promoting inclusive environments for students with autism.

Donna Dodd

Donna Dodd, is currently a Coordinator of Autistic Support Services for the School District of Philadelphia. Her research interests include best practices, instructional strategies and interventions to support students with autism.

David Mandell

David Mandell, Sc.D. is the Kenneth E. Appel Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He is trained as a psychiatric epidemiologist and mental health services researcher. The goal of his research is to improve the quality of care individuals with psychiatric and developmental disabilities receive in their communities, with a particular focus on people with autism.

Julie Worley

Julie Worley, Ph.D., BCBA is an Assistant Professor, clinical psychologist, and the Director of the Philly AIMS team at the Center for Mental Health at the University of Pennsylvania. Her professional interests include increasing community access to evidence based interventions and assessments for individuals with developmental disabilities. Further, she is interested in facilitating community partnerships to help increase the quality of care for children receiving mental and behavioral health services, while making the process and services sustainable for community-based centers.