Thursday, February 28, 2002

A SUNY-Albany Program Uses Distance Education to Teach Parents and Professionals About Autism By BROCK READ The difficulties of understanding and educating children with autism can make parents and teachers "desperate," says Sarah Roche, a project staff The Autism Distance Education Network Institution:State University of New York at Albany Instructor:V. Mark Durand, a professor of psychology When offered:Fall and spring sessions Cost:Each course costs $639 for graduate students in New York, $411 for undergraduates. Enrollment:150 to 200 students enroll. URL:Information about the program is available here. assistant at the State University of New York at Albany. Through a three-course certificate program, the university uses a variety of distance-learning media to provide instruction in what can be an exhausting field. The university's project, the Autism Distance Education Network, offers two of its three courses this spring: "Autism I: Foundation Course" and "Autism II: Introduction to Intervention." In the first course, students discuss the causes of autism, historical views of the disorder, treatments drawing on psychology and biology, and recent research. In the course on intervention, they learn to plan programs that monitor autistic students' communication, behavioral, and social skills. V. Mark Durand, a professor of psychology and interim dean of the university's College of Arts and Sciences, developed the courses, which are based on his lectures. When the foundations course made its debut in the fall, students watched and interacted with the lectures through videoconferencing technology at 13 university classrooms and health centers located throughout New York. Now, students receive CD-ROM's on which Mr. Durand's lectures, recorded from the fall sessions, appear as video files. At the beginning of the course -- and after each of its four exams -- the university sends three disks, each with one lecture and a set of notes, to every student. Both the lectures and notes are also available on the course's Web site, but the university decided to adopt CD-ROMs, because they allow students to review material more easily at their own pace, according to Ms. Roche. The lectures and self-administered exams form the bulk of the course, but Mr. Durand holds online chat sessions and moderates a discussion board as well. Graduate students earn credit by completing a research paper of 8 to 10 pages in which they formulate a plan for teaching a specific skill to an autistic child. Students in "Autism II" still meet through videoconferences, which are now held at 12 locations in New York. (Online lectures are available for students who must miss a session.) Mr. Durand does not simply lecture, however; he holds interactive sessions modeled after hospital rounds. In the "eRounds," students present case studies taken from their experiences and lead discussions about treatment and education issues. Mr. Durand says the interactive sessions are productive because parents, teachers, and students bring different experiences and ideas to the discussions. "A parent can say, 'This is what I used in my house,'" says Mr. Durand, "and teachers can suggest certain other things." He developed the online autism program after participating in an assessment of autism education in New York state. The report, which was sponsored by the state's department of education, recommended a series of steps that educators could take to improve programs for autistic children. Mr. Durand used the suggestions as guiding principles for the courses at Albany. Response to the certificate program "has exceeded our wildest dreams," according to Mr. Durand. More than 160 people enrolled in the introductory course in the fall, and the figures have held steady this semester. "We're turning people away at this point," Mr. Durand says. The majority of the students in the course are graduates working as special educators and looking to obtain certificates as associate behavior analysts. Many, however, are undergraduates, and some are parents who audit the class seeking alternative methods of helping their own children. That concerned parents can participate reflects Mr. Durand's concept of the course, which is "designed to help people, not just as an intellectual exercise," he says. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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