Jan Blacher

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of the Smooth Sailing professional development (PD) program for improving the student-teacher relationships (STRs) and academic, social, and emotional-behavioral outcomes for early elementary-age autistic students. Children's relationships with teachers during the early school years impact their concurrent and long-term school adjustment. Unfortunately, autistic students experience poorer quality relationships with teachers relative to th...

The purpose of this project is to develop and test a professional development program for general education teachers who work with students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in early elementary school. The program will be designed to improve general education teachers' readiness to work with students with ASD, including their ASD knowledge, student-specific knowledge, self-efficacy to teach children with ASD, appropriate student expectations, and the quality of their relationships with pa...

Research has demonstrated that the quality of children's relationships with their teachers is related to their subsequent academic and social adjustment. This research, however, focuses primarily on typically developing children. The quality of student-teacher relationships (STR) may be particularly important for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other developmental disabilities because they are less likely to be successful in building positive relationships that may help pr...