Autism Awareness Month: Sikeston R-6, Autism Center partner in pilot project to better meet student needs

SIKESTON — As April’s Autism Awareness Month comes to close, the achievements made through the partnership between the Sikeston R-6 School District and Autism Center at Southeast Missouri State University’s Sikeston campus will continue to help the students it serves.

Dr. Kimberley Blissett, R-6 assistant superintendent of elementary and special services, and Dr. Renee Patrick, director of Southeast Missouri State University’s Autism Center for Diagnosis and Treatment in Cape Girardeau and Sikeston, said the pilot program currently in place between the two institutions has taken a few years to develop.

“The Autism Center has contracted with Sikeston for ABA (applied behavioral analysis) services for about six or seven years, and then when Dr. Blissett came on, it coincided with an increase in rates in the Sikeston district,” Patrick said. “So, we just started partnering more. We got together and talked about some of the needs in the district, some of things we could do and we brainstormed.”

From there, the partnership grew, Patrick said.

Blissett recalled she served on the Autism Center Board when she started working for Sikeston R-6 in the 2019-2020 school year.

“At that time, we had a great need for ABA services because we had several students with needs and behaviors that were outside of our area of expertise. We began researching to find out how to meet our diverse student needs” Blissett said. “I was familiar with Dr. Patrick’s work and what she has done at the Autism Center. She’s very helpful with giving ideas and resources.”

Blissett contacted Patrick and they discussed what could be done.

“At the time, the increase was in students with autism and students with severe behaviors. Our school district (as with many others) was not prepared to handle the specific needs of our students and we asked for input on how to handle those behaviors and what we as a district could do,” Blissett recalled.

That’s where the district learned about the ABA services for both autistic students and students with severe behaviors, Blissett said.

“When we originally started, it was more so focused on some of those students with an IEP (individualized education plan) as well as non-IEP students who exhibited severe behaviors,” Blissett said.

Sheri Mitchell, R-6 special education coordinator, noted the Autism Center also provided a training for the district’s paraprofessionals as professional development in helping better serve children with those needs and training to handle those behaviors better.

“We couldn’t find anything (to help paraprofessionals),” Blissett explained. “There was nothing out there to prepare them but we’re asking our paraprofessionals on a daily basis to deal with our students with behavior needs as they work one-on-one with them. Dr. Patrick and her staff have come in and helped us out with them.”

The original services piece was the Autism Center was contracted to come into the district buildings and make observations in the classroom, functional behavior assessments, etc., but then Sikeston R-6’s need increased greatly and so then the district contracted them where Patrick provided two licensed applied behavior analysts from the Autism Center for a certain number of hours per week, Blissett said.

“When that originally started, they were in our buildings, helping the teachers, observing, helping students, writing those behavior assessments, sitting in on IEP meetings, giving us advice on what they could do with those students,” Blissett said. “That proved not to be enough because our numbers grew even more.”

Then in the 2020-2021 school year, the Sikeston R-6 students started coming to the Autism Center at the Southeast Missouri State University-Sikeston campus to receive those services from Dr. Katie Hine, a licensed applied behavior analyst.

“The (R-6) students come over and get their ABA services at our center (in Sikeston),” Patrick said. “And there’s a lot of bussing involved.”

Blissett said it’s been a big group effort with the R-6 transportation department, and it’s a collaboration with teachers in all of the elementary through junior high buildings. Services are also offered at the high school building so K-12 students are being served, she said.

This year, the Sikeston R-6 district employed a registered behavior technician, or RBT, Kayleigh Howard, who was previously working as an aide in the district. She is now certified as an RBT.

“We’re hoping it’s going to open up a lot of doors for us, and we want more paraprofessionals to take that training so they have the resources they need to interact with our students in the classroom,” Blissett said.

Student success has been another benefit of the partnership, Mitchell said.

“We have had kids that have required the intensive therapy over at the center, but then when she felt like they ready to be implemented back into the classroom, Dr. Hine has actually attended the classroom with the student to help them transition back into that classroom setting to be able to help alleviate any behaviors that might come up due to the extra stimuli and things like that they would have in a classroom full of students — just to be able to help them be successful coming back to the classroom, so that is an important piece, too,” Mitchell said.

Blissett said the ultimate goal is never to keep students isolated but to get them back to where they can function in that classroom and be successful.

Patrick said the two entities work so well together because they have that shared goal of inclusion.

“Our population does get excluded in many different ways and sometimes it’s because there’s not enough support with trained providers like RBTs within the school setting, and we would love to be an example of how this kind of relationship could work out for other school districts because there are a ton of other school districts who don’t have resources, and they do have that shared goal as we do,” Patrick said.

This partnership also helps R-6 parents, Blissett said.

“They’re not having to take off during the day or have appointments outside of the school day. The child’s not tired at the end of the day,” she said. “I think it works out for all parties involved and provides consistency for the student.”

Mitchell agreed.

“Families appreciate it, too, because often times there’s a wait list for services, and this is a way for them to get them,” Mitchell said.

Blissett said it’s a relief for parents that someone is helping them with their child at school and home.

The special education department’s knowledge and awareness have also increased, Blissett said.

“The knowledge we gained in the last two years is invaluable – just knowing where to go,” she said. “It’s increasing our knowledge and we’re able to pass it down to staff pass and they pass it down to our aides and they’re able to utilize those things. When you know more, you can do more, and that’s what I think we’re doing right now.”

This partnership, Patrick said, is something that has developed across time and it’s been something that takes a lot of work so it is a commitment.

“That is what’s great about us and Sikeston school district — it’s that we’re committed to making it work,” Patrick said.

Getting the right staffing has been important, too, Blissett noted, adding the school board provided the financial piece to make this program work.

The students are also learning life skills, such as tying their shoes, using the bathroom and making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich so they can do these things independently whether in school, at home, at a restaurant or in a store.

Future plans include hiring a full-time special education teacher who’s specialized in autism who will also be housed at the Autism Center in Sikeston.

“That way students who are not able to transition back into the classroom can receive education services there as well,” Blissett said.

As Autism Awareness Month concludes, Patrick noted there’s still a lot of stigma around autism.

“Earlier diagnosis is better because then you can access services and make improvement, and the earlier you start and get those improvements going, the more likely the individual is to be more independent,” Patrick said.

The Regional Office for Developmental Disabilities and Mental Health is such a great resource for families because it connects them to so much.

In 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that approximately 1 in 44 children in the U.S. is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, according to 2018 data. Boys are four times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls.

“Autism doesn’t detract from them as a person,” Patrick said. “They’re still the lovely, wonderful human being you always thought they were; they just have this other thing going on. It’s a neuro-diversity that’s unexpected but manageable, especially if you get into those early intervention services.”

Patrick shared what she often tells parents of newly diagnosed autistic children.

“Those hopes and dreams you walked in with before I told you it was autism, please take them with you when you leave — because they’re still there,” Patrick said. “The pathway is just a little bit different. If you wanted to go to St. Louis and the road was closed, you’d drive through Illinois, and it would be OK. It might take you a little big longer to get there, but you’re still going to get there.”