Improving Autism Program Quality in Special Education Units: The Use of an APERS-based Model to Support Student Learning and Participation

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

APERS+: APERS assessments with written and oral feedback. Creation of an action plan that is continuously followed up by specially trained coaches weekly or bi-weekly in coaching sessions designed to support the use of evidence-based practices in school settings. Half-day lecture about autism and related SCCs.

Study summary

This study assesses the effect of using the Autism Program Environment Rating Scale (APERS) as a tool for providing feedback, in-service training, and coaching to school staff in order to improve program quality in special education units (SEUs) for children with autism or related sociocommunicative challenges (SCCs). APERS is used in its culturally validated Swedish version (APERS-Primary-SE). Using a quasi-randomized parallel-group design, SEUs will be allocated to either an experimental (APERS+) or control (TAU) condition. In the APERS+ condition, school staff receive continuous and systematic feedback provided by trained coaches based on the initial APERS assessment. In the TAU condition, schools will also receive feedback based on the initial APERS assessment, but no continuous coaching.

It is hypothesized that the APERS based intervention will improve overall program quality for children with autism or related SCCs as compared to TAU. Additionally, we also expect the intervention to improve student functioning, students' individual goal attainment, students' perception of their schools, and teacher self-efficacy as compared to TAU.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Change from baseline in autism program quality as assessed with the Swedish Autism Program Environment Rating Scale - Primary school (APERS-Primary-SE) — Baseline and about 8 months from baseline
  The APERS-Primary-SE is a rating scale designed to examine primary school program quality for students with autism or related sociocommunicative challenges in Sweden. It contains 10 domains including areas such as students' personal independence and competence, and challenging behaviors. The scale consists of 58 items rated on a five-point Likert scale (1= low quality, 5 = high quality) resulting in individual item scores, subdomain scores, domain scores, and a total score.

Trial sites (1)

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