1. The Basics of Autism
Spectrum Disorders
Training Series
Regional Autism Advisory Council of
Southwest Ohio (RAAC-SWO)
RAAC Training Committee 2011

2. Training Series Modules
 Module One: Autism Defined, Autism Prevalence
and Primary Characteristics
 Module Two: Physical Characteristics of Autism
 Module Three: Cognition and Learning in Autism
 Module Four: Getting the Student Ready to Learn
 Module Five: Structuring the Classroom
Environment
 Module Six: Using Reinforcement in the Classroom

3. Training Series Modules
 Module Seven: Autism and Sensory Differences
 Module Eight: Sensory in the Classroom
 Module Nine: Communication and Autism
 Module Ten: Communication in the Classroom
 Module Eleven: Behavior Challenges and Autism
 Module Twelve: Understanding Behavior in
Students with Autism

4. Training Series Modules
 Module Thirteen: Social Skills in the School
Environment
 Module Fourteen: Functional Behavior Assessment
 Module Fifteen: Working Together as a Team
 Module Sixteen: Autism and Leisure Skills to
Teach
 Module Seventeen: Special Issues of Adolescence
 Module Eighteen: Safety and Autism
 Module Nineteen: Special Issues: High School,
Transition, and Job Readiness

5. Training Series Modules
 Module Twenty: Asperger Syndrome: Managing and
Organizing the Environment
 Module Twenty-One: Asperger Syndrome:
Addressing Social Skills

6. Big Idea
The communication
skills of students with
Autism can vary from
student to student.

7. Communication and Autism
 Some students may be non-verbal and need a
different way to communication such as through
pictures or written words.
 Some students are verbal but they do not know how
to use their words to express themselves and they
too need a way to help them such as pictures or
written words.

8. Big Idea
Communication systems
should be utilized ALL the
time in EVERY environment.

9. Communication Systems in
the Classroom
Communication systems can be any of the following:
 A picture book with several pictures organized by
categories.
 A picture board that has a set group of pictures
created for a specific activity (i.e. a picture board
with food on it for snack time).
 A voice output device which is a device that when the
student presses a button with a picture/word on it,
the device ‘speaks’ the label.
 Single pictures or written words
 Technology and AT

10. Examples of Communication
Systems
Picture Communication Book
 Students use the pictures to communicate a desired
object or activity, to comment on something they may
see, to ask questions, to answer questions, or to
interact with peers.

11. Examples of Communication
Systems
A picture board that has a set group of pictures created
for a specific activity (i.e. a picture board with food on it
for snack time).

12. Examples of Communication
Systems
 Single pictures or written words

13. Examples of Communication
Systems
Voice Output Device-the student will push a picture
on a device and the device will say the name of the
picture

14. Technology and AT

15. When to Use Communication
Systems
 The student should be the one that carries
the communication system.
 The student should be taught how to
independently use the communication system.
 They should not be put on a shelf and
utilized only during certain times of the day

16. Big Idea
A student should always
have a way to
communicate what they
are thinking.