Information for Parents
What is the Smooth Sailing Program?
The Smooth Sailing program is a professional development program for general education teachers teaching kindergarten, first, or second grade. Through this training program, teachers will learn about autism, how to support students on the autism spectrum in their classroom, and strategies to build meaningful connections with neurodivergent students and their families. This program utilizes a positive, affirming approach to autism, and helps teachers to build supportive relationships with their students on the spectrum.
Past research has found the Smooth Sailing program to be effective at improving teachers’ relationships with students on the autism spectrum and their families. Children whose teachers take part also show gains in social adjustment, academic engagement, and emotional and behavioral wellbeing in school. The program was developed with extensive support from teachers as well as autistic collaborators. The program content and strategies embrace a neurodiversity-affirming approach and support teachers in building inclusive classroom environments that are responsive to the needs of diverse learners.
Frequently Asked Questions
Teachers will be asked to identify one child in their classroom with whom to practice the learned strategies. Teachers will share program information with parents, and we will obtain your consent as parent if you decide to take part; this parent permission will be obtained before the teacher begins the program.
Eligible children include those who have a diagnosis of autism as well as those with potential autism; children do not need to have an autism diagnosis.
Though the Smooth Sailing program is autism-focused, the relationship-building strategies are generalizable and may be beneficial to a wide range of learners.
During the 4-week program, teachers complete online learning modules and one-on-one coaching to apply program strategies. They will also practice the strategies in the classroom during their day-to-day interactions with your child. Teachers will find times during the normal school day to interact with your child one-on-one for a few minutes at a time to foster a positive connection. These interactions occur during the course of everyday classroom activities. Teachers are asked to videorecord one of these practice sessions to receive feedback from their coach on their strategies.
As part of the program’s focus on fostering teacher-parent collaboration, teachers will also meet with you on one occasion for 30-60 minutes. This is an opportunity to build a strong partnership with you and learn from your experiences with the child.
Finally, as part of this research study, you will be asked to complete online surveys about your child three times during the year, to allow the teacher to complete surveys about the child, and to allow researchers to visit the classroom for an observation of the class and a 15-minute, one-on-one interview with your child about their opinions about school and the teacher on three occasions.
Our staff are skilled at conducting these visits unobtrusively and minimizing disruption to the class without singling out any one child while observing.
We anticipate that your child will reap direct benefits from their teacher’s participation in this program. Specifically, your child’s teacher will use in-class strategies to develop a stronger positive relationship with your child, allowing them to be more attuned to your child’s behavioral, social, and academic needs. A wealth of research shows that when the relationships between students and teachers are strong and positive, students are more likely to experience academic and social successes, including greater academic engagement, school satisfaction, and wellbeing in school. Parents, too, stand to benefit from the program. The special education process can place a unique strain on the parents’ interactions with educators and schools.
Smooth Sailing works to actively confront this by supporting teachers’ communication skills. You may notice improvements as teachers engage with you to learn more about your child and strengthen your teacher-caregiver communication.
This, in turn, may support your child’s academic engagement, social adjustment, and emotional wellbeing in school. Finally, families will receive $100 (Paypal, Venmo, or check) for participation and completion of these online surveys.
We recently completed the program with 32 parents. 94% of parents reported better collaboration with their child’s teachers, 94% agreed that it helped the teacher get to know their child, and 94% agreed that it improved their own relationship with the teacher. Here’s what some parents have said:
“We are so happy that this program exists. Thank you to whoever is reading this and everyone you work with.”
– parent of 1st grader whose teacher took part in Smooth Sailing
“[This program was helpful because] I enjoy speaking with my child’s teacher any chance I get. She’s so invested in our son’s success and it really shows every single day. She’s amazing!”
– parent of 1st grader whose teacher took part in Smooth Sailing
“She’s amazing in all the effort she has placed to know my son.”
– parent of 1st grader whose teacher took part in Smooth Sailing
Our program is led by Drs. Abbey Eisenhower (UMass Boston), Jan Blacher (UCRiverside), and Narmene Hamsho (Fairleigh Dickinson University). They are supported by students and staff with backgrounds in education, clinical psychology, special education, and school psychology.
The staff and students who conduct observations and child interviews and serve as teacher coaches bring school-based autism experience and related expertise.
We’d love to hear from you. You may reach our coordinator, Liz Benitez, for any questions about this program, at smoothsailingstudy@gmail.com. You can also reach our program directors, including Abbey Eisenhower at UMass Boston (abbey.eisenhower@umb.edu) and Jan Blacher at UC Riverside (jan.blacher@ucr.edu).
We are happy to answer questions or speak individually with parents who may be wondering if this program is right for their child or interested in getting involved.
Ready to learn more about Smooth Sailing?
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