CDE

ASD Literacy Institute, Tier 1 (2023-2024)

Audience: Educators, Other District/School Staff | Topic: Autism, Literacy, Special Education | Hosted by: Office of Special Education

Requirement for School / District Staff: N/A

Face-to-Face format

What

This statewide institute will be conducted by nationally recognized experts on literacy and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Dr. Christi Carnahan and Dr. Pam Williamson. The institute content will focus on a balanced approach to literacy including instruction in phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing. Each aspect of literacy will be linked to the unique cognitive, social, and communication issues inherent in ASD. Assessment strategies will include an overall estimation of the students' literacy abilities from interactive to independent, which will help teachers determine what additional literacy assessments may be needed to inform instruction. Measures of student outcomes and teacher outcomes will be incorporated into the project, developed by the presenters.

This training will be conducted in-person two days in the fall of 2023 followed by two days of in-person training in January, 2024 (In the event in-person training is no longer available due to county, state, district or CDE guidelines the in-person training will change to a virtual format).

Who

The institute is ideally designed for teams of certified school members who work directly with students with autism spectrum disorder. Teams can include general and special education teachers, speech, and language pathologists, reading interventionists or other members who design/deliver literacy instruction. Due to limited space and need to enroll professionals responsible for delivering/designing literacy instruction, this course is not open to paraeducators. All accepted participants will be asked to share implementation information with parents, paraeducators, and administrators. To ensure fair representation across the state, the number of teams accepted to attend from each district/AU may be limited.

When

In-Person Dates:

October 4, 2023 from 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM
October 5, 2023 from 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM

Virtual Dates:

January 3, 2024 from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
January 4, 2024 from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

This training will be held in Brighton, CO and broadcasted LIVE to remote sites* around the state.

*Remote sites are designated sites around the state where participants will attend in-person and the training will be broadcast live. There is NO Zoom/virtual option for this training.

This training will be a hybrid format conducted in-person two days in October 2023, followed by two, three-hour sessions of virtual training January 2024. (In the event in-person training is no longer available due to county, state, district or CDE guidelines the in-person training will change to a virtual format).

Training Details

Meals

A working lunch will NOT be provided at the training, however plenty of time will be given for participants to leave. Please plan accordingly.

Cost

The Exceptional Student Services Unit of the Colorado Department of Education provides the funding for the presenters. Venue space is provided by the hosting school district/AU. There are no costs to the participant.