The Interagency Assessment Center (IAC) offers an extended assessment and intervention program for children 24 to 36 months of age with a diagnosis of autism. The program includes intensive classroom instruction and support services for parents.

Classroom instruction serves a small group of seven children per day. The instructional day is four hours per day, five days per week. The Education Specialist and four classroom assistants provide a 5:7 adult-to-child ratio. This intensive program focuses on both individual and small-group instruction. The program day includes the opportunity for integration time with typically developing peers at the school site. Children gather for structured group activities and playtime that foster language development, motor development, self-help, and social-emotional interaction and growth.

Currently there are 2 classrooms at the Mann Elementary School location.

IAC SUPPORT STAFF includes:

                                                         • Administrator     
                                                         • School Psychologist
                                                         • Speech/Language Pathologist
                                                         • Occupational Therapist

Support staff specialists work with program staff and parents to address each individual child's needs. The IAC provides each child with an ongoing, comprehensive assessment. This includes intensive instruction, observation, and data gathering in individual and small-group settings. A variety of instructional approaches is used to systematically determine the most effective strategies for each child. Some strategies and methodologies include the principles of Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), positive behavioral supports, functional analysis, structured teaching, use of visual supports and various communication strategies.

Parent training and support is regularly provided to every family whose child attends the program. As needed, staff visits the home, the child’s natural environment, to support the use of individualized teaching and behavior strategies that are proving to be effective for that child in the program. Basic training is provided to teach parents how to use research-supported strategies for fostering language development and social-emotional growth in environments outside of the educational setting.

Staff specialists meet monthly with families to demonstrate effective strategies and address specific needs and interests of each family. The School Psychologist, Speech and Language Pathologist, Occupational Therapist, and Education Specialist also select, develop, and oversee strategies and methods used in the training and support component of the IAC program.

A parent support group meets monthly so that parents can provide practical support and information for each other to successfully address the needs of their children. These meetings also provide critical, updated information about community resources available to families. Parents often find it valuable to continue attending group sessions even after their children have completed the IAC program.

TRANSITION TO PRESCHOOL

Approximately three months prior to a child's third birthday, the IAC's multi-disiplinary team begins their final assessment. For the children who entered the program before 32 months of age, this review serves as a post-test in which families and staff can evaluate the progress the children have made.  These results are shared not only with families, but also with the local district in which the children reside (district of residence).  Test results, as well as information regarding the effective strategies and interventions used within the IAC are critical in helping determine an appropriate school placement in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE).

Preschool assessment teams and service providers  from SELPAs and local school districts work closely with IAC staff to effect smooth transitions to preschool programs. Throughout the process, the preschool team works to ease the transition from a program that focuses on family needs to one that now focuses on the student's unique educational needs.