By Shirley Cohen. -- A few weeks ago Dorothy Siegel, who is a member of the panel on Autism Intervention for the Celebration of Teaching and Learning conference, as am I, described the ASD Nest program on this blog site. That program was developed in response to a need for a better option within the public school system for higher functioning children on the autism spectrum.

By Caroline I. Magyar. --Student assessment and program evaluation are essential to identifying, selecting and evaluating effective interventions and educational programs for students with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As the number of children classified as autistic increases, school personnel can benefit from increasing their understanding of the role that evaluation plays in determining student instructional needs and designing and evaluating effective programs and interventions.

By Temple Grandin. --When I was a child, I was good at drawing and art and terrible at algebra. My parents encouraged my ability in art and I used my ability to visualize in my career designing livestock facilities. People on the autism/Asperger spectrum have uneven skills. They are often good at one type of learning and bad at another. Educators need to work on building up the area of strength.

By Dorothy Siegel. --The ASD Nest Program is built on the Collaborative Team Teaching (CTT) model, modified to meet the needs of higher functioning children with ASD. Nestled within supportive neighborhood schools, the program helps children with ASD learn how to function well academically, behaviorally and socially in school and in their community.