Autism Specialist

DISTRICT OVERVIEW

Holyoke Public Schools is a PreK-12 public school district serving nearly 5,100 students, of whom 80 percent are Latino/Latina, in 11 schools. We employ nearly 1,300 people who together educate and support a richly diverse community of learners. We are committed to recruiting and retaining top-quality educators who believe all children can and will learn and who strive daily to make school a joyful place of discovery, support, and belonging.

Holyoke Public Schools’ strategic plan, “Moving Forward Together,” builds on the strengths of our past while serving as a call to action to accelerate student learning by thinking differently about how we teach, how we work together, and how we support students’ well being.

Our Equity Commitments are pledges we are making to address systemic equity challenges.

• We intentionally build a community that is anti-racist, inclusive, and culturally responsive.
• We ensure that students, families, and staff get the support they need to be successful.
• We seek out and incorporate the voices of those impacted, with a commitment to include those who have been excluded in the past.
• We promote access and inclusion for all students, staff, and families.
• We respect, embrace, and honor the diversity of our students, families, staff, and community.
• We reflect on our own behavior to minimize harm to others.
• We create a culture of acceptance and empathy so that everyone feels valued and is able to contribute to our community’s success.

Please visit the Holyoke Public Schools website to learn more about us as well as some of our recent accomplishments.

Spanish:

Las Escuelas Públicas de Holyoke son un distrito escolar público de prekínder a 12.° grado que acoge a casi 5100 estudiantes, de los cuales el 80 por ciento son latinos/latinas. Empleamos a casi 1300 personas que, juntas, educan y apoyan a una comunidad de estudiantes muy diversa. Estamos comprometidos a contratar y retener educadores de alta calidad que tengan la certeza de que todos los niños pueden y podrán aprender, y que también se esfuercen diariamente por hacer de la escuela un lugar alegre de descubrimiento, apoyo y pertenencia.

El plan estratégico de las Escuelas Públicas de Holyoke , "Avanzando Juntos", toma en cuenta nuestras fortalezas anteriores y al mismo tiempo sirve como un llamado a la acción para acelerar el aprendizaje de los estudiantes a través de una perspectiva diferente sobre cómo enseñamos, cómo trabajamos juntos y cómo apoyamos el bienestar de los estudiantes.

Nuestros compromisos de equidad son promesas que hacemos para abordar los desafíos de equidad sistémica.

• Construimos intencionadamente una comunidad antirracista, inclusiva y culturalmente receptiva.
• Nos aseguramos de que los estudiantes, las familias y el personal reciban el apoyo que necesitan para tener éxito.
• Buscamos e incorporamos las voces de los afectados, con el compromiso de incluir a los que han sido excluidos en el pasado.
• Promovemos el acceso y la inclusión de todos los estudiantes, el personal y las familias.
• Respetamos, acogemos y honramos la diversidad de nuestros alumnos, familias, personal y comunidad.
• Reflexionamos sobre nuestro propio comportamiento para minimizar el daño a los demás.
• Creamos una cultura de aceptación y empatía para que todos se sientan valorados y puedan contribuir al éxito de nuestra comunidad.

Por favor, visite el sitio web de las Escuelas Públicas de Holyoke en www.hps.holyoke.ma.us para obtener más información sobre nosotros y algunos de nuestros logros recientes.

Goal: The primary role of the Autism Specialist/BCBA is to support the development, implementation, and refinement of programmatic and individual social and behavioral supports, using strategies based on principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA). The Autism Specialist/BCBA will function in a consultative role, whose expertise will increase the capacity of all team members to effectively provide least restrictive behaviorally-based supports to students and related professional development and direct training to staff throughout each school day.

The following outline of the role and responsibilities is intended to provide a broad overview, but is subject to change according to the needs of the school district, as required by the Director of Intensive Services, Chief of Pupil Services, and Receiver/Superintendent of Schools.

• Adheres to all ethical guidelines, as outlined by the BACB. Adheres to all state and district designed special education processes and procedures.
• Creates & implements staff training and development around principles of ABA and related school-based topics during building based and district wide professional development opportunities throughout the school year, as directed by Director of Intensive Services and building principal.
• Conducts assessments including, but not limited to: Functional Behavioral Assessment/Analysis (FBA/FA), adaptive assessments (ie. Vineland, ABAS-3), social/language/skills-based assessments (ie. ABLLS-R, VB-MAPP, AFLS), home visits, and other related assessments necessary to analyze measurable information to formulate team recommendations and action planning toward overcoming learning barriers and meeting IEP goals and objectives
• Collaborates with educational teams to create Behavior Support Plans (BSP) and other behaviorally based student support interventions, that are feasible for implementation across all educational settings.
• Creates and implements structured program/individual staff training on therapeutic staff design/implementation of BSPs and other individualized recommended strategies to ensure: high fidelity of implementation, progress monitoring, and student success and independence.
• • Models applied behavior analytic intervention strategies and data collection techniques for direct service providers, classroom teachers, paraprofessionals, and other school-based stakeholders
  • Monitors data on a scheduled basis, identifies change timelines, shares action steps to staff, and provides real time feedback to staff following observations.
• Directly assists and supports teams with crisis/safety situations where staff require additional direct support and/or modeling. Supports crisis situations, using least aversive procedures, and works under the guidance of building administration regarding action planning.
• Provides program/individual staff consultation on development/ implementation of Discrete Trials Training programs and other ABA-based teaching methodologies to promote student learning success.
• Provides staff consultation on assessment and implementation of social skills instruction.
• Facilitates action and solution based team consultation meetings with classroom teachers/related service providers/paraprofessional staff, as needed by IEP team members and other stakeholders.
• Attends all required IEP meetings, when role is assigned to IEP or an evaluation has been requested/completed. Attends all additionally requested meetings with IEP teams, families, and/or community stakeholders
• Fulfills all written IEP responsibilities, including but not limited to: student strengths and key evaluation summaries, accomodations, methodologies, service delivery grid. Provides consultation to the team on social/behavioral goals/objectives, as needed.
• Provides consultation to families and community stakeholders, as requested.
• Schedules and documents provision of services to students, as outlined in individual IEPs
• Assists in maintaining & updating internal and external Shared Resources (ie. internal G-drive resources, external HPS Autism Resource Webpage)
• Serves as a member of Child Study Teams (CST), as requested by principal and/or Director of Intensive Services.
• Performs other duties as requested by the building principal, the Coordinator of Special Education, or the Director of Pupil Services, within the scope of job description.

Additional Job Requirements:

Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) & State Licensed Behavior Analysts (LABA) Preferred

Experience writing IEP goals and objectives

Experience with staff training

Working knowledge of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks

Effective communication skills with families and community stakeholders

Experience working in an urban setting preferred

At least 2-4 years of relevant experience preferred

Bilingual Preferred

Master degree preferred

Teaching license preferred, but not required

Citizenship, residency or work VISA in United States required