Evidence-based autism teaching resources now available from new, free online professional learning community

We’re celebrating an important milestone – the completion of one of Australia’s largest and most successful autism education research projects and the launch of an online professional learning community - called inclusionEd - for educators who teach children with diverse learning needs, including those on the autism spectrum.

This four-year Autism CRC flagship project developed a suite of teaching resources and strategies – called Models of Practice – that are now available on inclusionEd. The project was led by researchers from the Aspect Research Centre for Autism Practice (ARCAP) and Griffith University. It involved 300 teachers throughout the life of the project from 32 schools in Queensland, NSW and Victoria; as well as autism education experts from Aspect, Griffith University, Autism Queensland, AEIOU Foundation and QUT. Importantly, the project was co-produced with autistic researchers from ARCAP.

Together, the team designed and developed evidence-based teaching resources and strategies. Teachers who participated in the project reported an improvement in their confidence to teach children on the spectrum and an increase in their knowledge of autism. As a result, teachers are better equipped to help autistic students adapt to changes they experience at school.

As the next step of this project, the research findings will be incorporated into Aspect’s education program and the resources will be shared with educators across the nation through inclusionED. inclusionED combines the outputs of more than 25 research and development projects, including Models of Practice, carried out through Autism CRC's School Years Program in more than 300 Australian schools over the past six years.

It will assist educators from across Australia to support their students, whether they are taught at school or home. Parents can also use the free tools to support their children’s learning at home.