Answering all FAQs about The Autism Helper Professional Development Membership!

Saturday. Hi Facebook, hope everyone is having a great weekend. So I wanted to pop on here and answer a few questions that I've been getting a lot about the Autism Helper professional development membership. Our enrollment is currently open. We're open until January 29th. So if you're thinking about joining, there's a limited opportunity. So I've got a few things that I want to chat about, a few questions that I've been getting, but if you have a question, please drop it in. That's why I'm doing these I know that you want to make sure this is the right fit for you and understand everything. This is kind of new and different, so I want all the questions because I want to make sure you understand what it is and get all your questions answered. So I hope this has been helpful. I'm kind of jumping on here just doing quick informal lives every day, um, until we close enrollment on the 29th. And you know, it's always— I always see kind of people join right after the Facebook Live. So if you're shy and you don't want to ask in front of a live, no problem, DM me, message me. We'll get your questions answered. But if you have a question, please drop it in because if you're wondering, so are other people. So definitely drop in and ask those questions. So I have a few things I want to chat about. First up, I mentioned this yesterday, but for those that join by today, so by the end of the day today, you get a bonus training and PDF. And my current members, if any of you guys are on here, don't worry, you guys get this too. It's really good. Um, so if you join today, you get the Group Work Quick Start Guide, and this is only going to be available through the membership. This isn't a TPT product. This is all new stuff, and it's a video training. It's about a 15-minute training plus a PDF, and the idea is that it will really guide your small group instruction from start to finish. So it's going to give you everything you need to kind of run your small groups and do it in a really efficient and organized and streamlined way. So if you've been thinking about signing up, I would recommend doing it today so you can get access to the Group Work Quick Start Guide. And in a little bit, I'm gonna show a few of my favorite components of it. Someone on Instagram just asked, "What are the objectives of the course?" So my goal with the membership is to provide you with ongoing training, consultation, resources, and support. So in this field, sometimes you can feel like you're on an island, right? Nobody quite gets it. The PDs that we go to aren't quite applicable to what we're doing. And we don't have that community of professionals that are kind of in the same boat that we are. So I created the membership as a way to provide ongoing training. You know, I travel all around the US doing professional development workshops and I get asked all the time, "Can I have your slides? Can you send— do a webinar? Can— how do we— can we have you come to my school? But my school doesn't have funds." So instead of trying to do quick webinars, all these things, I wanted something that was ongoing that would provide support month after month because that one day is a lot of information and we need help throughout the whole year. So I developed the membership as a way for me to provide that kind of remote type training but in a way that's a little bit more realistic, I think, for a teacher's life. So every month you'll get 4 to 6 new training videos. They're all short. They all kind of have an action step at the end and they're in a specific order to give you that path, give you that plan of what you should be doing and in what order should be doing— you should be doing it. Because I know I was in the classroom and I was in a classroom that I had a lot of struggles in that you want to do all the things at once. And when you try to do all the things, you're unsuccessful, you feel burnt out, you feel like you have no confidence, and you are exhausted. So instead of that, kind of having that plan and that path of these are the few things I need to focus on this month and that's it. It. I think honestly just getting kind of the permission to do that is the game changer, right? Sasha says, I don't have to worry about that till later. Cool. So in this membership you'll get ongoing access to those training videos. You get to use them with your staff. There are 4 categories for the training videos. I've been getting this question a lot. What type of training videos are there? So there's 4 categories. Every month you'll get videos within each of the categories. We have staff training, academics, classroom structure, and behavior. So for example, in some of the staff training videos have been how to find time for staff training, how to train your staff to take academic data, how to train your staff to run behavior plans. So it's really gonna guide your staff training process from start to finish. It also has a component of how to utilize these videos for staff training. So a lot of my current members are using these videos as their staff training. They're sitting down with their team, They're putting on a video and everyone's watching, like my video on reinforcement, and everyone watches together and they discuss it. I even give worksheets and templates on how to use the videos as this staff training model. Um, so someone just asked, can these resources be sent electronically? Yep. Everything is digital. Everything's virtual. So when you watch the videos, you can watch it whenever you want. The resources that you get access to every month are all digital. There'll be resources included in the videos, plus you also get 3 resources a month aligned to kind of the concepts that we're focused on. So you're gonna get the training videos and the resources. To me, the idea was really I want to give you the knowledge and the idea and strategies, and then I want to give you the stuff to do it because we just don't have enough time. Oftentimes it's like, oh, I could make that myself, I just don't have the time to, because as a special education teacher I mean, you have more than 2 jobs, but you have 2 big jobs. You are a teacher and you are a curriculum developer, and whoo, that is a lot of work. So as that curriculum development piece gets more and more filled with all the things we have to create, I wanted to lessen that load by having these resources for you ready to go. So I love the idea of using the videos for staff training because that staff training piece also is a big pressure point. What do we do with staff training? How do we do this? I know this is a struggle for a lot of teachers. I have yet to find an undergrad or a master's special ed program that teaches a class on staff training, right? Did anyone have that? Like, and that's a big part of our job. So you want to kind of think about making sure that, um, that we can have those resources for our staff as well and how to do that. I want to scroll back and read a few of these questions. Someone asked a good question here. Vday asked, "The resources we download while we are a member, do we get access to them after the year ends?" So this membership doesn't end after a year. So it lasts as long as it's going to be useful to you. So there's gonna be continued things. I have really cool things planned for this summer. I have really cool things planned for next fall. So there's always gonna be new things added. And as long as you are a member, You are going to continue to have access to the training videos, to your resources. It's all gonna still be there. The videos don't expire. You're gonna continue to have access to them, which is great. Um, let me scroll through these. Oh, thank you, Michelle. Michelle gave me such a nice compliment. Um, and on Facebook someone asked, what are good apps for students who have limited verbal skills? That really depends on the types of skills your kids are working on. Within the membership, we have a ton of resources that can be utilized really for all ranges of students. Let me grab these on Instagram. Someone asked, how can I become a member? Great question. So I have the link in Instagram, I have the link on Facebook, or you can just go to theautismhelpermembership.com. Type that in, there's a button towards the end of the page, it says join now. You can pick a monthly membership where you pay as you go, so no risk, right? If it's not for you, you can cancel at any time. There's no commitment. And if you decide you want to pay for the year in full, you will get a month for free. So that's kind of your choice. Oh, Kirsten said the membership is worth every— is worth every moment, has been so helpful for my staff and within my class, helping me put everything to place. Sasha is amazing. I did not tell her to say that, guys. Thank you so much, Kirsten. You are the sweetest. Um, speaking of current members, if you want to hear from current members, you can listen to this week's podcast episode. In this week's podcast episode, I'm interviewing 5 members. They all teach in different settings, different grades, and they share how they are utilizing the membership. So, um, they want— they share what they're doing with their staff, they share how the resources are impacting them, how they're using them with their whole school community, really. So if you want to kind of hear how people are already using it, definitely check out that podcast episode. Just search The Autism Helper Podcast on any podcast channel. Um, but Diane missed the answer to my last question. So your resources and your training videos will stay for as long as you are a member. The membership doesn't expire after a year. We're gonna keep adding new things. We have really cool things planned for this summer. So as a member, you'll continue to always have access to all of your videos, all of your resources. Things won't expire. Over on Facebook, Anna asked, "Will you have CEUs for BCBA?" Great question! I get a lot of questions about CEUs. So we do provide CEUs. I'm an ACE provider, so if you're a BCBA and understand what that means, I give Type 2 CEUs. After 4 months of membership, you can request your CEUs and you get 4 CEUs for the 4 months of membership. So it'll be one CEU a month, but you can request them on that 4-month cycle to get 4 CEUs. So Type 2 CEUs, If you're not a BCBA, every school district is a little different, every state is a little different on what they accept for CEUs. Most districts I think will accept Type 2 CEUs from the ACE provider. I will give you a certification for that. You just have to check on your own that your school district will accept my CEUs because I can't know for sure, you know, if they'll accept it. But I haven't had anyone so far had an issue with it. Teachers that have utilize the CEUs. So you will— teachers, BCBAs, RBTs, whatever— will get CEUs every 4 months on that 4-month cycle. Another similar question I've been getting is kind of since I've been chatting about staff training is, can— do I need one of a license for everyone in my team? How do I do this? So if you're a classroom teacher, the license is for one classroom teacher, and you're welcome to use the content with your paraprofessionals, maybe share something with a social worker, but it's just for one classroom teacher. So if there's 3 classroom teachers in your school that want to utilize it, you'll need 3 licenses. Your school can purchase the license for you. We accept school POs, school credit cards. There's a link on our website that explains all of that, so you can jump on there and get info kind of about school districts purchasing those licenses. But your paraprofessionals don't— won't need a license. Kind of within our membership, you're allowed to use them with your staff. That's really how it's designed. So let me get back real quick to the fast action bonus because if you're on the fence about joining or you know for sure you're gonna join but you're like, "I'll deal with that later," right? Which I get it, right? I push everything off, especially on the weekends. But if you're like, "For sure, I'm in. I'll just get to it later," I encourage you to take the 2 minutes now and sign up today so you get the fast action bonus. So the fast action bonus, like I said, is the Group Work Quick Start Guide. And it's a video plus a PDF. The PDF's over 60 pages. It has lesson plans, templates, data sheets, behavior resources, anchor charts, checklists, all kinds of fun things. It really is gonna guide you through the process of what we're doing before we run a group, what we do during the group, and then what we do after. I'm such a checklist person, you guys. Like, I mean, who else? Give me a, "I'm a checklist person too," if you are also. I, I love a checklist. To me, it makes me feel when I'm overwhelmed and feel like I don't know where to start, it gives me a plan. So within the membership and within a lot of things I do, I'm all about a checklist because it helps me feel organized. It helps me feel like I'm in control. And when we have to do so much, that checklist is essential. So it's gonna give you that checklist. And in the training video, I show you how to utilize the checklist. We go through each step together. What things do we have to do to accomplish this? And then what stuff do I need to get this done? And the resources within the group— within that Group Work Quick Start Guide are going to work for all skill levels. So I've got kind of your basic things if your kids just need like first-then. I love this one because even though this is just a simple first-then like I'm working for, it's in a small group setting. It's kind of moving away from that individualized behavior system to a group one, which for some of our kids is a great step step. So something like this for our kids that need something more basic versus something more advanced like a behavior contract. Or this is— I was just showing this on Instagram. I love this. I've been using this. This is such a fun one. Different problems you can have when working in a small group and then possible strategies. We want to teach our kids that problem-solving skills. And when we work with other people, we're going to run into problems. So we're really in a small group teaching these skills. And where you'll be successful with your small group instruction is how you plan, how you prep, and how you do that planning and prepping with your kids. You have to teach those foundational skills. You have to set up expectations. You have to do that on a regular basis. And I talk all about that in the Group Work Quick Start Guide. So if you've already joined and you've got it, I hope you've liked it because this was something I was really, really excited about and saw a need for. So that kind of brings me to another question that people have been asking me is who is this designed for and what grade students can I have? So this was really— the membership was really specifically designed for a special education teacher. That being said, I have a lot of parents, I have a lot of clinicians, BCBAs, RBTs included in the membership right now because the strategies that we're talking about are gonna work in so many settings. So for example, this month right now we have a video on replacement behaviors. We can use that in the home, we can use that in the clinic, we can use that in in-home therapy and in-school therapy. That's going to apply to so many settings. We also have a video on how to teach staff to take academic data. Again, we're going to have to utilize that in so many ways as so many different— the different roles that we play. So it was really designed for that special education teacher, but there's so much value within all of these concepts that I really think it works for for a parent, a BCBA, especially a school-based BCBA, an RBT, an SLP, therapist that are working closely with special education teachers or with students on the spectrum. And then when it comes to ages, right now we have teachers preschool through high school. So the concepts that we're talking about are those foundational concepts. We're going to talk about schedules, we're going to talk about utilizing visuals, we're going to talk about getting buy-in from staff, we're going to talk about token economies, and the correct language to use with kids. How these strategies work are going to look differently whether you are a high school teacher or a preschool teacher, but those concepts, those core concepts, are gonna be the same. So the membership really focuses on that framework, and that framework isn't just the basics because a lot of this is stuff, even if we've been in the field for a long time, that we have to constantly be shifting our perspective on, be switching what we're doing, because as Dr. Stephen Shore said, if you've met one individual with autism, you've met one individual with autism. So we need to be constantly shifting how we're approaching things like schedules and replacement behaviors based on the current needs of our learners. So you can have a preschooler or a high schooler and this membership will still be helpful to you. The resources that you can download every month, you can pick. There's gonna be a selection of about 10 to 12. You can pick the 3 you want to download based on the needs of your kids and the needs of your classroom. I know in special ed there is no one-size-fits-all. That's why I can't just like plop the resources you need this month into your lap because I don't know what your kids need. So you can pick and choose based on what you already have, based on the skills of your kids, and based on what your classroom is really needing in that moment. So it's not geared for a specific age level. It's gonna really be able to be utilized throughout all the different levels. So yeah, I think I got through a lot here, guys. I hope everyone is having a really relaxing Saturday. It is snowing in Chicago. Not into it. Um, but I will be back on for a quick live tomorrow around noon again. In the meantime, if you have questions, drop them in my DMs, in the live comments, and we'll make sure to get those answered right away. If you go to the website theautismhelpermembership.com, while you're scrolling through and reading about it, we have a little chat feature so you can kind of pop your questions right in there. If you're like, "Oh, I didn't know they have school license. How does that work?" and I want to chat with someone about it, we will respond right away. We want to make sure that your questions get answered as soon as they can because we want you to make the right decision if this is a good fit for you. And if it is a good fit for you, I highly recommend signing up today so you do not miss out on the group work quick start Quick Start Guide because even at preschool we want to start working on these small group skills. And with our older kids and our kids that have more skills, we want to fine-tune it and make it more independent and build in the problem-solving stuff. And the Group Work Quick Start Guide will help you do that. So hope everyone enjoys their weekend. See you later!