Different Roads to Learning
More children are being diagnosed with autism than ever before, and Associate Professor of Special Education Pamela Wolfberg (M.A., '88; Ph.D., '94) is working to see that they receive the specialized education they need.
Pamela Wolfburg says the same principles that apply togood teaching in general also apply to teaching students
with autism. More information can be found in "Learners
on the Autism Spectrum: Preparing Highly Qualified
Educators" (The Autism Asperger Publishing Company,
'08), a book she co-edited with Kari Dunn Buron. Photo
courtesy of Pamela Wolfburg
Two years ago
she established Project Mosaic at SF State, a graduate program focused on training
teachers to serve students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Children with
ASD, which range from classic autism to Asperger syndrome, struggle with communication
and socialization and can miss out on interactions with peers that are a crucial
part of childhood. Project Mosaic is helping teachers draw these students in
from the periphery.
Launched with a U.S. Department of Education grant of $800,000,
the program supports 20 students each year, who agree to work with autistic
children for at least two years after they graduate. Special focus is placed
on training teachers to work with students in ethnically, culturally and linguistically
diverse communities like those found in the Bay Area.
Rachel Dial (M.A., '07),
one of the program's first graduates, drew from her training to design an autism
program for Fremont Unified School District, where she was recently named Most
Promising New Teacher of the Year. "Project Mosaic gave me the support network
I needed to maintain motivation, to continue with the most rewarding yet challenging
work as a teacher of children with ASD," she says. "I was able to share my
concerns, ideas, experiences, and frustrations with my professors and cohort,
which was exactly what I needed as a fairly new teacher."
Matt Poytner, an
education specialist with a private practice in San Francisco, also found the
coursework invaluable. He looks forward to graduating at the end of the semester
better prepared to serve his autistic students and their families. "Through
Project Mosaic I've been exposed to the work of experts across the country
and around the world … this has enabled me to become an informed consumer of information
about autistic spectrum disorders." Both he and Dial found a valuable resource
in Wolfberg, whose expertise has been tapped by U.S. school districts as well
as by educational leaders as far away as Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.
Wolfberg
is best known for her Play Therapy Model developed in the 1980s, which brings
autistic children together with typically developing children in guided activities
that promote social inclusion, communication and play development. Integrated
Play Groups can be found in Bay Area public schools, as well as in dozens of
schools and community programs across the nation and abroad. "An adult can
only go so far in teaching a child how to play," Wolfberg says. "The power
of peer play is undeniable."
In January, thanks to a $445,000 grant from the
advocacy organization Autism Speaks, Wolfberg will launch a three-year study
aimed at providing additional empirical evidence measuring the effectiveness
of the innovative autism treatment. A 24-week Integrated Play Group will be
evaluated to study both how autistic children improve and how their typically
developing peers grow in their acceptance toward their autistic playmates.
"With 1 in 150 children being diagnosed with autism, the next generation needs
to understand how to engage with individuals on the autism spectrum," Wolfberg
says. "Fostering awareness in today's children means we'll see a new generation
of adults who will know how to welcome and include people with autism in all
aspects of life."
Project Mosaic students graduate with three qualifications: a master's degree in special education, level two of a special education teaching credential, and an autism spectrum graduate certificate. Professionals in such fields as nursing, psychology and social work who already have a master's degree in another subject have the option to pursue just the graduate certificate.
For more information: www.sfsu.edu/~autism
Back to Campus Beat
Share this story:
