In-Home Parent Training

What is Required

For a Texas student with autism eligible for special education and related services, the ARD/IEP Committee must consider all eleven peer reviewed, research-based educational programming practice strategies under §89.1055(e) of the Texas Administrative Code (TAC). In-home/community-based training is one of the eleven strategies or options an ARD/IEP Committee may choose for a student with autism in order for the student to learn or to reinforce social skills in a variety of settings. This practice is to ensure a student with autism who may have difficulty generalizing skills from one environment to another receives needed supports and services. In-home and community based training is a related service that must be considered as one of eleven strategies on the Autism Supplement for a student with autism eligibility, and when needed, addressed in the IEP. While in home and community based training is used to generalize IEP-related social/behavioral skills across settings, such as school-to-home, school-to-community, home-to-community, and community-to-home, it is not an automatic service for a student with an autism spectrum disorder.

What We Do

The law only requires that students with Autism be considered for In-Home or Parent/Family Training. However, in Floresville ISD these services are considered for any student receiving special education services when the data supports that the service is required, and the ARD committee deems them appropriate. These services may take place in the home or in the community based on the skills being taught and the needs of the child.

In-Home Training: In-Home Training is considered when skills/behaviors have been mastered in the school setting and need to be generalized to the home and/or community setting or vice versa, when specific skills must be taught in multiple settings in order for them to be acquired, or when a skill has only been taught in one environment and not the other. To determine mastery in the school setting: specify the skills/behaviors and gather evidence of mastery at school in 2-3 different settings, with 2-3 different people, using 2-3 different materials.

Parent/Family Training: Parent/Family Training is considered when the data supports that the student is not making progress toward generalizing IEP goals and objectives or for the development of basic life skills; when parents/family needs training in order to carry out In-Home training goals; or when there are specific areas of parent/family need. This area of training may include parent resources.

The In-Home Community-Based Training (IH/PFT) consists of four steps:

Step 1: Determination of Need for Support

Step 2: Gather Baseline Information and Data

Step 3: Evaluation for In-Home or Parent/Family Training and Support

Step 4: Provision and conclusion of direct In-Home or Parent/Family Training

Step 1: Determination of the Need for Support

Areas that can be considered for support:

• The student is able to perform a social/behavioral task or skill identified on the IEP in one setting but not across settings.
• The student is working on a critical skill that can only be acquired if the skill is taught simultaneously in multiple settings.
• The student is demonstrating a serious safety deficit such as, but not limited to, head banging or running after moving cars.

Step 2: Gathering Baseline Information and Data

Campus-based interventions/viable alternatives:

• The campus level staff will identify the present level of performance and the current level of learning across settings.
• The campus and district field staff will identify appropriate strategies, determine who will implement each strategy, and decide on the frequency and duration of each strategy.
• The campus will implement necessary campus strategies or viable alternatives.
• Data will be collected to determine if the interventions have been effective.
• If the data shows that the interventions were not effective in helping the student perform a behavior/social skill previously learned in another environment or the student is not acquiring a critical skill, then proceed to Step 3.
• If the data shows that the student is making progress and the interventions appear to be effective, then the supports remain in place and progress is monitored across settings.
• The ARD/IEP Committee must consider the need for viable alternatives/campus strategies for all students with an autism eligibility. This support needs to be addressed and considered at every annual ARD/IEP Committee meeting and the Autism Supplement completed as part of the IEP , but can be considered for any special education student who meets the profile for needing IH/PFT. In those instances the data would be reported in the PLAAFP and/or the deliberations of the ARD/IEP meeting.

Step 3: Evaluation for In-Home or Parent/family Training and Support:

• Before an evaluation can begin, the campus must submit the following documents to the LSSP/Diagnostician:

1. Current PLAAFP statement.
2. IEP with updated goals and objectives
3. FBA/BIP (if applicable)
4. FIE or other evaluations
5. Campus strategies/viable alternatives documentation
6. Contact information for teacher, school and parent/guardian including names, addresses and phone numbers
7. Parental Consent for Evaluation (eSped document)
8. Notice of Assessment (eSped document)

• An IH/PT evaluation will be completed within 45 calendar school days of the signed consent for evaluation.
• If the evaluator recommends direct IH/PFT services, the goals and objectives will be identified in the evaluation along with recommended time for direct services.
• The ARD/IEP Committee will take the recommendations from the evaluation into consideration and determine the amount of direct service time and goals and objectives that need to be addressed during IH/PFT.

Step 4: When an ARD/IEP Committee determines a student needs IH/PFT services:

• A trainer is assigned to provide services from the Director of Special Education.
• IH/PFT can take place in the home or in the community where the parent observes the trainer working with the student and the trainer observes the parent working with the student.
• The trainer and the parent/guardian spend time observing each other and assisting the student on the identified IH/PFT goals and objectives.
• The first session is primarily spent gathering information about the setting(s) where the sessions will be conducted.
• This includes investigating needed materials and methods of instruction.
• If a student is receiving direct IH/PFT services at the time of the annual ARD/IEP Committee meeting, a summary report describing the progress on the objectives and time remaining will be provided to the ARD/IEP Committee.
• It is the responsibility of the school to notify the IH/PFT staff of the ARD/IEP committee meeting date.
• Upon the conclusion of the IH/PFT cycle the ARDC will review and retire the IEP goals and objectives.