This session presents a quality-of-life framework for supporting autistic learners, organized through a Multi-Tiered System of Supports. Best practice is defined not as reducing behavior or completing work, but as building conditions for participation, communication, belonging, and access to meaningful routines — so goals are selected for real-world significance and generalization rather than ease of measurement.

Participants will work through the recurring assessment loop of universal screening, skill assessment, functional assessment, and progress monitoring; the Tier 1 universal supports every classroom should have, including structure and visual schedules, positive behavior supports, communication systems such as AAC, social skills instruction, and evidence-based curriculum; and the selection of evidence-based instructional practices matched to both learner and context. Crucially, the framework measures the system as well as the student. Alongside learner-level progress data, teams track program-level indicators: Tier 1 audit results showing whether structure, visuals, communication systems, and reinforcement are consistently available across settings; implementation fidelity — whether supports were delivered as designed and accessible across routines; staff coaching cycle completion and fluency through instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback; screening coverage and referral patterns; and adherence to team decision rules and review timelines. Observation data is used to surface barriers and training needs, not to rate staff compliance.

A four-step routine — define, collect, analyze, act — and a five-point team action checklist give leaders a repeatable walkthrough and meeting agenda. The core thesis: best practice is a system combining meaningful goals, universal supports, evidence-based instruction, and data-based adjustment, evaluated at both the learner and program level.

At the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Apply a quality-of-life lens to goal selection — evaluate proposed learner goals against social significance criteria (access, communication, choice, independence, safety, belonging, and generalization beyond the teaching setting) and distinguish meaningful outcomes from easily counted ones.
• Audit and strengthen Tier 1 universal supports within an MTSS framework — assess whether structure, visual schedules, communication systems, positive behavior supports, and evidence-based curriculum are consistently available across routines, and identify where individualization is needed without abandoning universal design.
• Use learner- and program-level data to drive decisions — implement the define–collect–analyze–act routine using both student progress data and program indicators such as implementation fidelity, coaching cycle completion, screening coverage, and adherence to team decision rules, then adjust supports and staff training accordingly.

Presenter: Inga McKay, M.Ed, BCBA, LBA, Senior Program Director, Anderson Center for Autism

This webinar is sponsored by Anderson Center for Autism. 

Disclaimer: CEC does not endorse or recommend programs, products, or services from external sources.