In-district Autism Consultants

Project ACCESS created the IDAC role in the 1990s to meet requirements specified by state and federal governments and to provide school districts with someone with special expertise in autism who can make autism program recommendations to improve their district's support of students on the spectrum.  This role has evolved over the years.  In 2018, Project ACCESS suspended this training in order to devote effort to building a new program that focused on teaching the use of the 28 autism evidence-based practices, due to requests from IDACs for deeper training on the EBPs.  In fall 2026, Project ACCESS is again offering the IDAC credential due to popular demand. All of this updated training is available online (or will be soon) in an asynchronous format in our learning management system or in a blended asynchronous and synchronous format using our LMS and Zoom. You will not have to travel or hire substitutes to complete the IDAC credential sequence of coursework. Links below will take you to the course registration page.  If you want to earn the IDAC credential, there is also an IDAC placeholder course where you can upload your certificates from the workshops below as you earn them.  As soon as you have accumulated all four, our front office will receive a notification and we will reach out to you about sending you a IDAC badge with some special enamel pins commemorating your achievements. 

The current training regimen for IDACs includes training to meet the following legal mandates and best practices.  

(1) The MoDESE State Plan for Special Education specifies that multidisciplinary teams that are determining eligibility for special education services in the category of autism have at least one member who has special expertise in autism.  IDAC candidates therefore will need to complete Project ACCESS course entitled "Determining Eligibility for Special Education Services in the Category of Autism."  This training will be available for self-enrollment by 9-1-2026. 

(2) The federal IDEA requires school teams that manage discipline for students with IEPs to conduct Functional Behavior Assessments in certain situation.  New guidance from the federal Department of Education recommends FBA for many other situations besides discipline.  IDAC candidates will therefore need to complete Project ACCESS course entitled "Conducting an FBA" (use this link to sign up for it).

(3) Essential Features of a Defensible Autism Program is a best practices guidelines workshop aimed at training a district staffer to use a research-based review system to assess a district's strengths and challenges in terms of autism programming.  One great outcome of this training is that such a review should clarify professional development topics would be suitable for a particular district. This training will be available for self-enrollment by 9-1-2026. 

(4) There will be a capstone workshop that offers instruction about Coaching and Consulting available during the fall of 2026. 

You can register for the IDAC program by following this link to IDAC self-enrollment beginning in fall of 2026.  This link will add you to the Eligibility Training, Essential Features Training, and Coaching Training, but you will have to independently register for FBA Training using the link above.  

These four workshops include 45 total hours of instruction and skill-building practice in a blended learning format (asynchronous via Brightspace LMS and synchronous via Zoom).  Project ACCESS plans to make this sequence of coursework eligible for 3 credit hours of graduate credit through Missouri State University during the Fall of 2026 at a significantly reduced tuition rate.  

Any existing IDAC is being "grandfathered" to the new credential and new badge.  A map of schools that have an In-district Autism Consultant is available on our website. Interested IDACs can reach out to Project ACCESS using our Existing IDAC form to get the new badge and pins. Request your new badge and pin by completing this form: IDAC Badge Request Form