Mary G. Hogsett Primary School has been chosen as a training site by the Kentucky Autism Training Center (KATC) in collaboration with the Central Kentucky Educational Cooperative (CKEC). This will help Hogsett better support students with autism to meet their unique needs. 

Principal Pamela Hambrick explained that Hogsett’s preschool program was already involved with the Autism Learning Network for the last two years. They received the opportunity to apply to be a training site for KATC, and Hogsett was selected as a classroom-level training site in August.

Hambrick said the school has a group of students with diagnoses of autism moving into kindergarten-1st grade classrooms this year, so this new opportunity is a way to help students with the transition.

“We wanted to be able to continue that level of support as they made that transition, so we applied with KATC to be a classroom site,” Hambrick said. “So what that really does is it allows us to have a partnership with them for their resources, for their people. They will be doing classroom visits and giving feedback based on positive things they see in place, next steps, strategies that they think would help support our students, as well as a level of professional development.”

KATC will have regular meetings with teachers and therapists working with the students so they can work as a team to make sure they are meeting their needs. 

“It’s bridging the gap during the transition to make sure that as they’re transitioning to that K-1 classroom, that we’re still very much meeting their needs and making sure that as they’re growing and developing, we are using the best practices but also we’re changing and modifying as we need to with their growth,” she said. 

Assistant Principal Jerrica Funkhouser added that she’s excited about the program because it’s a way to continue growing the skillsets of teachers so they can help students be successful at all levels. 

“What I hope happens from this is that other teachers see the success and even teachers in a typical classroom can use some of those strategies with some of their students that maybe have functioning autism or … don’t have a diagnosis already,” Funkhouser said. 

Hambrick said that over the past several years, Hogsett has seen a rising number of students coming to school with a diagnosis of autism. Depending on the needs of the specific students, they are placed in a general education or resource setting. 

“While we’re starting with this one specific team in this one specific classroom, our goal is that group of people will then be able to grow the capacity of our other teachers and share what they’re learning, so that way those instructional strategies are happening across our building for every kid who could benefit from them,” she said. 

The KATC and CKEC performing classroom visits and observing the students with parent or guardian permission is going to be helpful in adapting instruction and resources to meet students where they are and based on their specific needs, she said. 

Funkhouser said the initiative and Hogsett’s excitement for it shows that “We’re willing to put in the effort to figure out what do they need and how can we best serve them, even if it can be difficult at times.” 

“Our team is very excited about this partnership,” Hambrick added. “All of the therapists and teachers involved have this desire to learn and grow and know that every child with an autism diagnosis has very different needs, so you might have a lot of strategies, but they might not be the right one for certain kids, so being able to work together and have that time set aside to work collaboratively, to problem-solve, to make plans, and to work with these people who are experts in that area and have really focused their time and energy — they’re able to come in and be another voice in that collaborative team.”