MSU receives nearly $532K grant for autism education

The U.S. Department of Education awarded Missouri State University’s autism program, Project Access, a $531,666 grant.

Project Access provides autism resource information to public schools and helps design autism-specific professional development opportunities, according to a news release.

Project Access will use the funding for initiatives including:

• expanding its online resources for autism coaches, consultants, special education administrators and general educators;
• on-site consulting for school district requests;
• professional development training via webinars, teleconferences and face-to-face meetings;
• collaborating with regional developmental centers to offer two autism training sessions per semester for each region;
• scholarships for Missouri educators; and
• increasing school districts’ capacity to serve students with autism or other disabilities.

“The office of the provost’s plan is to build on the traditions and work of Project Access to explore other ways of using research-based practices, such as applied behavior analysis and other interventions, to help organizations such as the Arc of the Ozarks, Mercy Children’s Hospital and other community and state projects working with this population,” Project Access Director Christopher Craig said in the release.

Process Access was established by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Division of Special Education in 1985, according to its website.[[In-content Ad]]