Autism Navigator How-To Guide for Families

About the Course

Course Audience

For families who suspect their child has ASD—get started right away to better understand how early signs of autism can impact development and learn how to use intervention strategies in everyday activities to support their child’s learning and development.

Course Content

This interactive web-based course is for families who suspect their young child has autism or a social communication delay. It will put in the hands of families hundreds of video illustrations of evidence-based intervention techniques they can implement in everyday activities to support their child’s learning as soon as they suspect autism.

This self-paced course has 7 hours of interactive slides and 5 hours of video libraries. The course will teach families how to embed strategies and supports into their everyday activities, provide developmental growth charts to help families recognize and monitor meaningful outcomes, and offer video libraries to illustrate how to promote learning and development for young children with ASD.

Autism Navigator How-To Guide for Families is comprised of 4 Guide Books and 2 Video Libraries:

• Guide Book 1: Social Communication Milestones and How Autism Impacts Development
• Guide Book 2: Collaborating to Make Early Intervention Work for You
• Guide Book 3: Getting Started with Early Intervention Right Away
• Guide Book 4: Addressing Challenging Behaviors
• Library of Change with Intervention
• Library of Everyday Activities

The Guide Books range from one to two hours of content for a total of 7 hours. We have developed the content to build across chapters in each book and across books. But you can decide what order you want to go through the slides, video players, and Guide Books, and how much of the content you want to complete. We hope you will return to the course later as a resource to watch more or to use the libraries when you need video examples as you are learning to support your child’s development. Our e-learning platform includes a Tools section that has print documents to support your learning including a printed script of the content for each Guide Book that you can download.

This How-To Guide for Families will also be instrumental for early intervention providers to use with families they serve. It is designed as a companion course for families served by providers enrolled in the Autism Navigator for Early Intervention Providers Knowledge and Skills and Mastery Level courses. The content and video illustrations can help to maximize time for coaching during intervention sessions and improve outcomes of young children with ASD and their families. Families can use the Professional Directory available on www.AutismNavigator.com under Family Resources to find professionals who have completed Autism Navigator courses.

How to Enroll in the Course

You can learn how to enroll in Autism Navigator courses at www.AutismNavigator.com. Find Courses on the top menu bar. Scroll down to see descriptions of the courses we offer and select Learn How to Enroll. You will be asked where you live because some states or regions have group rates or sponsored seats available. Select Family Resources to learn about the free courses and tools in our Seamless Path for Families.

Professionals with an annual subscription to Autism Navigator for Primary Care receive 20 seats in the How-To Guide for Families, a value of $500 per seat, to invite 20 families with a positive screen for autism who are ready to get started supporting their child’s learning. Professionals with an annual subscription to other Autism Navigator courses also receive some seats in the How-To Guide for Families per year for the families who they are providing coaching.

Families should ask their primary care provider and early intervention provider if they are enrolled in Autism Navigator and have any available seats for families they serve. Families can also purchase seats at www.AutismNavigator.com if they are ready to get started and their providers are not enrolled or do not have seats available. Families can let their providers know about Autism Navigator professional development courses by sharing the link to www.AutismNavigator.com and the documents posted about each course.

It Takes a Team to Support Families

Autism Navigator courses and tools are designed to help support collaborative partnerships with the medical home, early intervention system, community service providers, early care and learning, and families to improve children’s outcomes. Our online platform maximizes the use of technology to bring evidence-based practice to families and communities at a critical window of opportunity. Go to www.AutismNavigator.com to learn more about our courses and family resources.

What You Will Learn from Autism Navigator® How-To Guide for Families

Guide Book 1: Social Communication Milestones and How Autism Impacts Development (2 hours)

• Key social communication milestones in infants and toddlers in 5 developmental domains:

  • Play — how young children learn and make connections with the physical world and how things work
  • Language — how young children become masters of interaction and communication first using gestures, sounds, and words, then sentences, generative language, and conversation
  • Social Interaction — how young children learn to share enjoyment, interests, ideas, feelings, and experiences to connect with others in a balanced, reciprocal exchange
  • Emotional Regulation — how young children experience emotions, learn to regulate or manage their emotions, and focus and refocus attention based on their emotions
  • Self-Directed Learning — how young children make connections between object, space and people, and develop active learning strategies and creative and flexible thinking

• How the early signs of autism unfold and impact development and learning in these 5 developmental domains

• Importance of early gestures and what are the 16 gestures that all children should have by 16 months

• How to differentiate late bloomers from late talkers with persisting language problems

• Importance of preventing the secondary impact of autism on cognitive development and behavioral challenges and how to promote active engagement in young children with ASD

Guide Book 2: Collaborating to Make Early Intervention Work for You (1 hour)

• The critical role of the family in detecting the early signs of autism
• Family perspectives on learning their child may have autism and the impact on the family when early signs are missed
• Concerns about labeling a child and having difficult conversations about autism
• Professional perspectives on how to build consensus on the early signs and promote ongoing collaborations
• What are early intervention services and how a family can get started in early intervention and find resources

Guide Book 3: Getting Started with Early Intervention Right Away (2 hours)

• Why learning in everyday activities in the natural environment is so important to achieve the intensity needed for young children with ASD
• How to create learning opportunities in everyday activities at home and in the community to give your child a home field advantage
• The components of active engagement to help you decide which targets are priority intervention outcomes for your child
• Evidence-based intervention supports you can use in everyday activities to promote active engagement that are organized into 3 layers like a layer cake

Guide Book 4: Addressing Challenging Behaviors (2 hours)

• Why children with autism have challenging behaviors
• How do you figure out the function of challenging behaviors
• How a positive behavior support plan can help your child

Library of Change with Intervention (2 hours)

• Library of edited video clips showing change with intervention from 18-36 months of age for 8 toddlers with ASD and their families

Library of Everyday Activities (3 hours)

• Library of 200 video clips of different families interacting with their toddlers with ASD in a variety of activities in each of the following 8 categories of everyday activities: