February Updates from the Montana Autism Education Project

All trainings provided by the Montana Autism Education Project are free to Montana Public School Educators and Service Providers.

Find a complete list of trainings at Montana Autism Education Project

Julie Doerner: It Takes a Village: How SPED Teachers can further Alternative Augmentative Communication (AAC) success in their classrooms. 

This course was designed for SPED teachers who have a desire to learn and review AAC terminology, who want to share ideas, and learn the most efficient ways to elicit use of AAC. Time is of the essence when you work in the public schools. This session will provide ideas and proven strategies for helping you, your team, and your students to use AAC in ways that you may not have thought of before! 

Julie is a nationally certified and state licensed Speech Language Pathologist (SLP). Julie currently works for the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) Tribal Health Services of the Flathead Reservation. She serves all ages of patients across the Reservation, but works primarily with Native American children attending Head Start preschool centers. Julie has worked in the public schools, private practice, in the rehab setting, and most recently worked at the University of Montana. At UM, Julie worked for the state assistive technology (AT) program, MonTECH, and the School of Speech, Language, Hearing, and Occupational Sciences. Her work focused on Augmentative Alternative Communication. Julie has been working with the Proloquo2Go app since 2012. When she isn’t working, Julie is riding her horses, training her mini-donkeys, and traveling. 

2 OPI Renewal Units are offered for this training

January 30, 2025 3:30-5:30

February 13, 2025 3:30-5:30

Register for this 2 hour virtual training here. 

Julie Doerner: Alternative Augmentative Communication (AAC) Information for Para-Educators : How to support students, your SPED teachers, and families with confidence!

Para-educators working in special education settings are shouldered with many responsibilities in the classroom and school. One of those responsibilities is assisting students who use AAC devices. Do you feel like you are “flying blind?” Or perhaps you suffer from “imposter syndrome?” In this course, participants will learn “MVT” or “most valuable terminology.” You will get tips on how to help your students, based on your own level of AAC knowledge. We will discuss feature matching, being patient, and using your own creativity to produce communication opportunities for your students who use AAC. 

2 OPI Renewal Units are offered for this training

February 6, 2025 3:30-5:30

February 21, 2025 3:30-5:30

Register for this 2 hour virtual training here.

Julie Doerner: How to Stop the Escape: Virtual 

Do you have a student using an iPad/tablet who is constantly escaping your planned AAC activities? Regain control with these strategies! This training will show both technical and non-technical ways to lock the student’s device into AAC communication mode and stay there. 

2 OPI Renewal Units are offered for this training

January 31, 2025 3:30-5:30

February 14, 2025 3:30-5:30

Register for this 2 hour virtual training here. 

Julie Doerner: AAC Evaluation Considerations: Virtual

What skills do we assess during an “AAC Evaluation?” And what are the best methods to do so? AAC evaluations can be a daunting task. In this session, you will learn or review AAC evaluation protocols and additional strategies. We will also talk about how discuss evaluation results so that team members can feel compelled to get the student’s program started. 

2 OPI Renewal Units are offered for this training

February 20, 2025 3:30-5:30

February 27, 2025 3:30-5:30

Register for this 2 hour virtual training here. 

EdCOR Colorado: Autism and Classroom Management: Live- Whitefish

Morning Session:

The morning session will offer an in-depth exploration of autism and the broader neurodiversity movement, focusing on the experiences, challenges, and strengths of individuals who are neurodivergent. Participants will gain an understanding of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from both clinical and social perspectives, examining the latest research and best practice. Topics Include:

• The history and evolution of autism diagnosis and the neurodiversity paradigm.
• Core features of autism spectrum disorder, including social communication, sensory processing, and repetitive behaviors.
• Best practices in school settings with a focus on strengths-based approaches and inclusive environment
• Trauma informed behavior practices
• Strategies for PDA (Persistent Drive for Autonomy)

Afternoon Session:

The afternoon session is designed to equip educators and special service providers with the knowledge, expertise, and practical tools necessary to create and maintain a positive, productive, and supportive classroom environment. Through a combination of current best practices and hands-on strategies, participants will explore the principles of effective classroom management, including behavior management, fostering student engagement, setting clear expectations, and promoting respect and cooperation among students.  

This session will cover whole class, targeted and individual practices that are easy and doable in the general education classroom as well as more intensive interventions to supports learners in special programs. Class is interactive and will model skills and activities for engaging learners within the training day. Come ready to be and active learner, workshop style!

February 20, 2025, 8:30-4:30: The Firebrand Hotel, Whitefish. 

7 OPI renewal units are offered for this training 

This training will be limited to 30 people. 

Register for this live 1 day training here.

EdCOR Colorado: Advanced FBA-BSP: Live- Whitefish

Behavior support plans should be living and dynamic documents. Would you like to breath new life into your plans? This course will start with understanding the foundational components of an FBA including how to collect and interpret data and how to understand what your data is suggesting that you include into a behavior plan.

Participants will learn the latest practices in building effective and efficient intervention plans that can be implemented in a school setting. Participants will learn techniques for choosing function based intervention strategies, data collection, progress monitoring and how to be more nuero-affirming and trauma informed in delivery of behavior support. We will offer take away tools and strategies to increase staff buy-in related to BSP implementation.

February 21, 2025, 8:30-4:30: The Firebrand Hotel, Whitefish. 

7 OPI renewal units are offered for this training 

This training will be limited to 30 people.

Register for this live 1 day training here.