A Professional Development Plan for Educators Working with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Transitioning into Standard Childcare Settings

Abstract

Standard childcare centers are continuing to become more inclusive to individuals of all abilities. Transition plans from specialized services such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) often include discharge criteria and a discharge transition plan for the child, but often do not include any training or development plan for educators in a standard childcare setting. Due to the limited number of plans available, transition plans vary greatly in how comprehensive they are as every organization creates their own plan or transitions children into the childcare setting without an identified plan. This paper proposes a professional development plan for educators working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) transitioning into a standard childcare program. The program includes staff training and support, and collaboration partnerships.