2017-2018 LEND Trainee, Dr. Tricia Shelton, was recently awarded The Gryphon House Teachers Award for Preschool with her book, “Practical Strategies for Supporting Young Learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder”. This annual award recognizes and distinguishes an early education book as a must-have for all teachers.
“Practical Strategies” is a book of best practices for educators to use in inclusive classrooms. It contains over 50 easy-to-use strategies and ideas tied to a specific IEP goal, 12 original case studies covering common issues, and several interactive pieces to better guide readers and educators to outline, format, and implement classroom strategies.
Dr. Shelton wanted to write this book after completing her doctoral dissertation studying preservice educators and their expectations of children with ASD.
“As I wrote this book, it was important to me that I framed it from an ‘asset model’ perspective. Too often, teachers only view disability in a negative light. I believe diversity in the classroom improves the learning community as a whole. Not only can students learn from each other's differences, but teachers strengthen their practice through the support of different learning styles. In this book, specifically, I wanted to illustrate how we can use some of the common characteristics of ASD, such as intense interests, to engage and motivate learning. I feel strongly that the techniques I discuss in the book are simply good teaching practices. In this way, many of the strategies are helpful not only to students with ASD, but also to typically-developing children who need alternative paths of learning to progress in the classroom.”
Her book aims to help both novice and experienced educators and community leaders with easy and practical strategies to create a classroom environment conducive to helping ASD students excel toward their academic, social, and behavioral goals. The book can be purchased on Gryphon House or Amazon.
Please join LEND in congratulating our trainee on their success.
