Pitch Article On Autism Workshop


DISTRICT TO PRESENT AUTISM SPECTRUM WORKSHOP SERIES
The Lee's Summit R-7 School District will present a workshop entitled "Working with Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders in the Educational Environment" Sept. 4, 5, 11 and 12 at the Stansberry Leadership Center in Lee's Summit. Pre-registration is required.
The four-day workshop provides an overview of autism spectrum disorders as well as strategies for working with students in the educational setting. The R-7 School District has provided this workshop for several years, and the sessions are open to R-7 staff members, educators from other districts and parents from throughout the area. The workshop is free to R-7 School District parents and staff members. Cost is $150 for parents or educators from other school districts.
An additional workshop entitled "Understanding and Implementing Applied Behavior Analysis and Discrete Trial Teaching" will be offered Dec. 10 and 12 at the Stansberry Leadership Center. The two-day workshop will address the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis and its application to teaching children with autism spectrum disorders.
The December workshop is free to R-7 School District parents and staff members. Cost is $75 for parents or educators from other school districts. For more information about either workshop, visithttp://broncos.leesummit.k12.mo.us/parentflyers.nsf/viewIndex. Those interested may also contact R-7 behavior and autism spectrum disorder specialists Stacey Martin, 986-2301, or Kelly Lee at kelly.lee@leesummit.k12.mo.us.
Keimig touts Lee's Summit's teacher training program: two four-day sessions a year to refresh teachers on recognizing autistic behaviors and dealing with autistic students. But these sessions aren't mandatory, and there are no special incentives for teachers to attend. Of the district's 1,264 teachers, fewer than 80 attended the most recent sessions; half of those who did, Stacy Martin says, came from schools outside the Lee's Summit district.
But, Martin adds, teachers from neighboring states and school districts often pay $1,400 per person to attend the Lee's Summit training sessions. And Lee's Summit is so well-respected within the Missouri education system that Heidi Atkins Lieberman, commissioner of special education for the state's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, has invited Keimig to speak at a conference of state administrators in August. He's scheduled to present a special session for superintendents on effective teaching methods for autistic students.
The Missouri Department of Education does not keep records detailing the progress of autistic students. Instead, it tracks the performance of special-education students as a whole.
In choosing Keimig to lead the special session in August, Lieberman says, she relied on informed friends. "I asked people who were very knowledgeable about autism education, and they all said Jerry would be great," Lieberman says. "I don't think I'm really at liberty to identify anyone I talked to."

The Right Numbers
Regarding the Lee's Summit School District and services provided to children with autism spectrum disorders and their families: I do want to thank Peter Rugg for taking the time to seek out input from district employees for his article. However, I am writing in order to clarify a section of his article that contains inaccurate information. Rugg quoted me as stating that individuals from area school districts pay $1,400 to attend our autism trainings. It has always been, and remains, our goal as a district to educate others on autism spectrum disorders as inexpensively as possible. We do not charge Lee's Summit staff or parents who wish to attend, and educators from other districts are charged only $150 for the entire four-day workshop.

Again, I appreciate you taking the time to visit with me for your recent article.

Stacey Martin, Lee's Summit R-7 Autism Coordinator

Peter Rugg responds: "The numbers I reported were based on Martin's comments during a tape-recorded interview."

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