Preschool Education Programs for Children with Autism

by Sandra L. Harris

...helpful to persons who are considering creating a class- room to serve these children or persons interested in ensuring that the services they currently offer meet state- of-the-art criteria... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0890798508
• ISBN13: 9780890798508
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: Pro-Ed
• Length: 261 Pages
• Weight: 2.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A great resource for parents and professionals

While looking for an excellent preschool program for your "normal" child may be difficult, finding an excellent ABA preschool program for your child with autism is even more challenging. However, the Handleman and Harris book provides professionals and parents with 12 programs around the US that offer behavioral approaches in their curriculum. In each of the chapters, Handlemann and Harris answer a number of questions regarding each school program, such as background information, staff qualifications, admission requirements, goals of the school, how they address behavior problems, integration, social play, etc. In each of these sections, a detailed description is provided and examples are presented to provide parents and professionals with the information needed to evaluate a chosen program for their child. It also provides them with information on what the possible outcomes are for children who enter their program. I think this book is a great resource for parents, professionals, and school districts because it provides a basis for developing an ABA program that has been proven to work with children with autism. By reading this book, school districts can modify their programs to better attain to the children they are admitting on a daily basis. Also, because of the limited superior ABA programs in the US, it can provide a starting point for professionals, parents, and school districts to start their own programs and create more programs for children with autism, so parents will not have to rely on other treatments or inferior early intervention treatments because of the lack of availability.

Review of 3rd edition of Preschool Education Programs for Children with Autism

Drs. Harris and Handleman did a comprehensive job of writing a book about the different yet competent preschool education programs for children with autism. The authors describd in detail 11 programs around the country that are science-based intensive programs. Since, there are so many fads about autism and a lot of therapies that claim to treat autism which are not science-based, this book provides great information for parents, and professionals about programs that are worth investing time in. Unfortunately, many of these programs have an extensive waiting list. So, with that in mind I think this book also serves as a great model for administrators to take away from whom are charged with developing programs for children with autism. The book goes into detail about many aspects of each program such as criteria children must meet for admission, costs of tuition, teaching methods, staff training, staff ratio, etc. I think it's great that it goes into so much detail because it allows professionals, and parents to compare schools and evaluate the intensity of each program, the focus of each program, and its services. This edition also highlights the numerous advances that have taken place in the education of preschool children with autism since the prior edition, however in the prior edition, there were other programs mentioned that didn't carry over into the 3rd edition, such as the Princeton Child Development Institute (PCDI). The PCDI program is a very intensive hands on science-based program that has been around for more than 25 years and it is very well known around the United States and in some other countries. Drs. Krantz and McClannahan who founded the program are renowned in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and have contributed a great deal to the research literature of ABA. It would have been great for this exemplary model of a program to be included and described in detail in the 3rd edition of the book. I think PCDI has a great program that is a model for others to follow and to take valuable information from. Overall, I think this book is very helpful for parents, and professionals to understand why these programs exist and I think it magnifies the need for more programs to become available like the ones described in this book to treat children with autism with the proper intervention.

Extremely Beneficial

The second edition of the Preschool Education Programs for Children with Autism provides up to date information on a variety of educational programs for children with autism and children in the autism spectrum. Each program summarizes their characteristics such as staff training, assessment procedures, parental involvement, curriculum, cost, integration opportunities, and treatment outcomes. This newest edition is an invaluable tool for parents who have children in the autism spectrum. Parents who are looking at programs for their children, as well as those looking to improve public school programs their children currently attend, will benefit from this latest edition. This book is extremely beneficial to school districts who are thinking of developing their own Autism program, as well as those who are looking to improve the programs they currently have. With this book, districts will be able to compare different approaches and assess what characteristics will be beneficial to them. The authors stress the importance of communication among professionals. Program descriptions give the reader a sense of familiarity with various approaches as well as those professionals who are currently involved in these models. This will hopefully lead the way to communication among individuals who would normally not interact with one another.

Partners In Autisms Education Pick

In this book, service providers of various programs for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders were asked to answer questions regarding structure, staffing, financing, curriculum, assessment procedures, and support services of their program. This is an invaluable resource for people interested in providing, comparing, or procuring top-notch services.

Autisms.org - Book Review

This is the long awaited 2000 edition of a book written for special education teachers, school administrators, psychologists, speech therapists, and advocates and parents concerning the education of preschool-age children with Autism and ASD. Service providers of various programs for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders were asked to answer questions regarding structure, staffing, financing, curriculum, assessment procedures, and support services of their program. Invaluable resource for people interested in providing, comparing, or procuring top-notch services.