Project ACCESS Autism Credential - Project ACCESS Training - Project ACCESS

Introducing Project ACCESS Autism Credential Pathways

Project ACCESS has been working with schools since the 1980s. We have been evolving specialty programs to meet the changing needs of districts since that time. Each of the professional development programs below builds on the one that came before it.

In the 1990s, we developed a program/role called In-district Autism Consultant (IDAC). This program was designed to fill a need for special education eligibility team members who have special expertise in autism, as is required in the state plan.
In the 2000s, we developed a program for teaming called Building Effective Autism Teams (BEAT). This program was designed to facilitate program planning through teaming and ensuring the district programs incorporated the essential features of defensible autism programs.
In the 2010s, we developed a program called Project ACCESS Autism Credential (PAAC). This program was designed to focus on a deep dive into autism evidence-based interventions, applied behavior analysis, and function-based thinking.
Now, in the 2020s, we are developing a program that we are calling Project ACCESS Autism Credential Pathways. Autism Credentials Pathways combines all of the previous professional development and incorporates modern professional development strategies designed to meet the needs of today's educators. The global pandemic shaped this new program, as it has so many others.

This Project ACCESS Autism Credential Pathways program provides users with some choices regarding professional development content selection (see the Pathways roadmap and course matrix) and is designed to produce master teachers, process coordinators, and special education directors who have comprehensive expertise in autism interventions in educational environments. Participants have the option of earning graduate credit and/or a graduate certificate that can be applied to a master’s degree in special education. Participants who complete all three levels may be invited (by Project ACCESS) to become an autism coach. The fifteen modules of course content covers all 28 autism evidence-based interventions and will be delivered via a variety of modalities including asynchronous via Learning Management Systems (LMS), synchronous via Zoom, in-person, and blended.

This program consists of three tiers. The tiers are for organization only--higher tiers are not necessarily more advanced or require the knowledge of the lower tiers to complete. Each of the three tiers consists of five modules, with each module consisting of about eight components. This means there will be about 120 to 150 components in total when the 15 module, 3 tier system is fully built. Each component is roughly equivalent to a single lecture or meeting of a typical graduate course, or about three hours or a half-day training that we might have done in the past. We are calling it Autism Credentials Pathways because participants can choose their own path through their personal professional development related to autism that meets his or her specific needs. Modern PD attempts to capitalize on just-in-time training to help educators address the needs that are right in front of them and is practical immediately. Most of the instructional content in this evolved program is delivered asynchronously through a learning management system with some core components including companion e-coaching via Zoom or other web-conferencing technology. This learning content is designed for educators to work at his or her own pace, integrating learning into professional practice.

To learn more, including how to apply, please check out these links to additional information.

Application for the Project ACCESS Autism Credentials Pathway program will be available on this page soon. When this is available, we will also send out a notification via DESE SELs system and also to our mailing list.