Department of Education Awards Nazareth $1.2M Grant to Improve Services for Children with Autism

ROCHESTER, NY (05/24/2016)(readMedia)-- The U.S. Department of Education has awarded nearly $1.2M to Nazareth College to help improve educational and therapeutic services and results for children with autism. The Department of Education's Personnel Preparation in Education grant is highly competitive with only 15 projects in the country funded. This project focuses on the Interdisciplinary Speciality Program in Autism (I-SPAN) at Nazareth College, and a portion of the grant funding, spread over five years, supports student tuition in the I-SPAN program, allowing the program to build a professional community of teachers and related service providers who are better prepared to support school aged-children with autism.

This funding will allow Nazareth to collaboratively prepare 66 pre-service professionals in education and the related services over five years by supporting tuition costs and in turn helping support children on the autism spectrum in the Rochester area and beyond.

"In school-based settings, we know that children on the autism spectrum are often surrounded by a team of professionals including teachers, speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and social workers," said Shanna Jamanis, I-SPAN co-director and associate professor and chair in Nazareth's Inclusive Childhood Education Department. "Yet, most professionals on these child-centered teams have had little to no preparation in interprofessional practice, specifically related to supporting children on the autism spectrum."

"What is exciting about this grant is that it will extend our collaboration with families and other agencies in the community supporting individuals on the autism spectrum," said Dawn Vogler-Elias, I-SPAN co-director and associate professor in Nazareth's Communication Sciences and Disorders Department. "We focus on teaching our graduate students ways to provide person-centered supports and to listen to voices of families and individuals on the autism spectrum in their practice. Our students all complete a unique and evidence-based capstone project that directly impacts our local autism community."

I-SPAN is a nine-credit, graduate-level specialization that prepares professionals to work with individuals on the autism spectrum across the lifespan. I-SPAN is open to graduate-level matriculated and nonmatriculated students in a variety of disciplines including speech-language pathology, education, social work, physical therapy, and occupational therapy.

The ISPAN program is supported at 100% up to $1,195,829 under award H325K160049 from the U.S. Department of Education. The content of the program is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the US Department of Education.