This program is designed for students with a diagnosis of autism who
also demonstrate a significant need for academic, language, behavior,
and social skill development.

The Autistic Support Program at Buffalo Elementary is made up of two teachers (Mrs. Toy and myself), as well as our amazing educational assistants: Mrs. Smitsky, Mrs. Sweeny, Mrs. Arrington, Mrs. Stewart, Mrs. McCollough, Mrs. Wheeler, Mrs. Porco, and Mrs. Williams. We utilize two classrooms - one for Verbal Behavior (VB) and one for academic instruction.  We also have a Sensory Room we designed to meet our students' sensory needs.  

With the growing number of students identified with autism, PaTTAN established an Autism Initivative that they are implementing statewide.  We work very closely with our consultants to develop programs to meet each child's individual needs.  Most of our students are assessed using the VB-MAPP, which was designed by Mark L. Sundberg, Ph.D.  It was designed to provide a representative sample of a child's existing verbal and related skills.  In order to develop critical communication skills, we use errorless teaching procedures to teach the follow operants: 
    Mand - requesting an item or action that is desired
    Echoic - imitating someone else's vocal verbal behavior 
    Motor Imitation - imitating someone else's motor movements
    Tact - naming objects, actions, events, relations, properties, etc. 
    Listener Responding - following instructions
    Intraverbal - answering questions or filling in blanks

When an assessment indicates that a child's language is developed enough to start core academic instruction, we choose the most appropriate curriculum.  
    Edmark - sight word reading program
    SRA Reading Mastery - direct instruction reading program
    Connecting Math Concepts - direct instruction math program
    Handwriting Without Tears - handwriting program