For the Love of Children

Members of Barracuda Buddies (standing) help their schoolmates in Ms. Metz’s class.

On a recent Monday morning before lunch, students in Corin Metz’s class learned about amphibians in an ELA group lesson, started to make a rain cloud as part of an art project and learned that it’s not okay to have a tantrum as part of a social skills lesson. Metz’s six students all have a form of autism and other developmental disabilities.

According to the advocacy group Autism Speaks, 1 in 44 children have Autism Spectrum Disorder (autism, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PPD-NOS) and Asperger’s syndrome). It is the fastest-growing brain developmental disorder in the United States, with children exhibiting social, behavior and communication challenges. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, symptoms of autism manifest in early childhood and usually last throughout one’s life, as there is no cure.

Here in Orange County Public Schools, students with autism and their teachers are supported through the Exceptional Student Education department. In working to ensure every student has a promising and successful future, students can participate in blended classes where they are expected to access, participate and make progress in the standardsbased general education curriculum. Students with autism who need more carfeul attention also can attend an intensive school (see list on page 12) in their learning community area.

Teachers like Metz make every effort to educate students with autism in their home school, alongside their peers without disabilities to build tolerance and acceptance. She developed Barracuda Buddies, a Thornebrooke Elementary service program where her students are paired with general education students once a week to perform classroom activities.

“I wanted my self-contained students to have a more direct and meaningful structure to build relationships with their peers and to experience what other children experience,” said Metz, who has been an ESE K-2 teacher at Thornebrooke for 15 years and also is a 2022 OCPS Teacher of the Year finalist. “Buddies come into the classroom to do fun things like art projects, play on the playground or play board games. It has allowed them to interact socially with their buddies in a safe and more authentic environment. These friendships spill over into day-to-day school life. … Not only have my students benefited from Barracuda Buddies, but the peers that participate as a buddy with my students have grown themselves.”

Rock Springs Elementary is one of 13 intensive schools around the district that serve students with autism.

On the west side of the county, Rock Springs Elementary has dedicated autism units for approximately 60 students, according to school assistant principal Karen Hall. Autistic Teacher Acta Jimenez has an intensive, self-contained class with three students with varying cognitive abilities whom she and paraprofessional Whitney McIntire work with.

“Autistic children are very highly sensitive to noises, to change… . That’s a big thing, their oversensitivity, over stimulation,” said Jimenez, who has been teaching children with autism for more than two decades. “It’s different for everyone. There’s not one child [who is] the same, that you can do the same [thing] with. We deal with one behavior one way but deal another way with another student. You can’t read a book and assume that that’s gonna work, because it doesn’t.”

Despite the burnout at times, teachers like Jimenez love the students and families they work with.

“You either love it or you don’t, cause it’s not about the money,” said Jimenez, who also adopted three children, one who has autism.

At the school, Varying Exceptionalities Teacher Apryl Cooke sees another 46 students with autism who are integrated into grades 3-5 general education. Of them, she works with 42 every day; the other four she consults with monthly for their academic goals. “Early intervention is key. The earlier that we can target their needs and fill those gaps, the higher the chance of success longevity wise,” she said. “Because if they need speech, if they need behavior therapy, if they need occupational therapy, the sooner we can get them the services, the higher the likelihood of them coming out [of ESE classes into the general population].”

To help support teachers in classrooms with students with autism, the ESE department has several instructional coaches, behavior analysts and behavior coaches who work to support students with autism and other disabilities.

Top: From left: Paraprofessional Whitney McIntire assists Teacher Acta Jimenez with three students in an intensive classroom.

Bottom: From left: Teachers Acta Jimenez and Apryl Cooke lovingly serve students with autism at Rock Springs Elementary.

From left: Brittany Mills and Caitlin Beilke like to tag team when they go into classrooms to assess needs.

Instructional Coaches Caitlin Beilke and Brittany Mills provide professional development support for all autism teachers throughout the district. At the beginning of the school year they conducted a survey to let principals know they were available to help teachers with self-paced professional development courses with evidence-based strategies and an autism toolkit on Canvas (search autism).

“A lot of our teachers didn’t know we had those resources… . I’ve had so many teachers come back to us saying, ‘This was just exactly what I needed, and it allowed me to look with a different lens of how to help a child with autism,’” said Beilke. “Because we always say, ‘You meet one child with autism, you’ve met one child with autism.’ Because they’re all unique, and that’s why it’s a spectrum.”

The two also provide trainings and try to visit schools three days per week to meet with teachers, assess teaching and classroom set-up needs in person, and provide a network of support so ESE teachers don’t feel isolated.

Mills’ passion to help students with disabilities is personal. Her son “is what we would love to call pre-verbal because he just doesn’t use his voice yet. So he communicates in other forms — through pictures, through his AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) device, through sign language,” said Mills, who also is an OCPS graduate. “He’s been my push to really dive into autism, the instructional strategies, how I can help him as a parent, as an educator.”

To better connect her school community with students with autism and their families, Westpointe Elementary ESE Teacher Chrain Walls incorporates every grade into its April celebration for Autism Awareness Month. With activities assigned to each grade level, such as coloring autism ribbons to mailing letters to students in schools with autism units, she tries to promote support and inclusiveness among her school’s general education population.

Walls credits her increased awareness to working with a student at Ocoee Elementary more than 10 years ago.

“At the time, I really didn’t even know what autism was. So I read up on it, asked around and did my best to prepare myself and my [general education] students. …,” she said. “That first student touched my heart in a way that I couldn’t explain. From that point forward, I made it my mission to be an advocate for students with autism, as well as educate my peers in the profession about the importance of acceptance!”

To help raise awareness during Autism Awareness Month, Chrain Walls involves school staff and students in activities to promote acceptance.

Autism Spectrum Disorder Intensive Schools

East Brookshire Elementary Glenridge Middle

West Frangus Elementary

North Rock Springs Elementary

Southeast Andover Elementary Odyssey Middle Southwest Palm Lakes Elementary Southwest Middle

Innovation Office Westcreek Elementary

High Schools Office Dr. Phillips High East River High Lake Nona High Winter Park High