Understanding Autism Professional Development Curriculum

The Center on Secondary Education for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (CSESA) is excited to announce the availability of its newest resource, the Understanding Autism Professional Development Curriculum. Created in collaboration with the Organization for Autism Research (OAR), this comprehensive professional development tool is designed to provide middle and high school teachers with the knowledge and evidence-based strategies needed to support their students with autism in the general education classroom.

The resources can be used to support various forms of professional development – large group, such as staff meetings or in-services, small teams, such as professional learning communities and department meetings, self-study, and/or one-on-one coaching.

The materials include two 75-minute training presenta­tions, to be used together or sep­arately, with video clips, participant handouts, activity worksheets, and facilitator notes:


Presentation 1:

Characteristics and Practices for Challenging Behavior

Presentation 1 cover

*NOTE: If you have having difficulty with the video links embedded as part of the presentation, link to the videos on this page: http://csesa.fpg.unc.edu/understanding-autism-presentation-1-videos

Please review this notification of a video change made for Presentation 1, Repetitive Behaviors and Restricted Interests video clip (slide 17).


Presentation 2:

Strategies for Classroom Success and Effective Use of Teacher Supports

Presentation 2 cover

*NOTE: If you have having difficulty with the video links embedded as part of the presentation, link to the videos on this page: http://csesa.fpg.unc.edu/understanding-autism-presentation-2-videos

Technical Requirements for the DVD Version

View ReadMe file