Peer to Peer Secondary Curriculum: Reimagined

The Peer to Peer Secondary Curriculum: Reimagined is live! This curriculum was designed for Peer to Peer high school courses in order to offer engaging, age-appropriate content, emphasizing neurodiversity. Please contact Stephanie Pulido if you have any questions or need assistance.

2022-2023 RCN Application and Contract Forms: Reminders

The RCN Application and Contract Forms page will be updated regularly as forms and links become available. Please review the following upcoming deadlines:

Baseline Data is due November 11, 2022. Be sure to collect the following data:
- CETA-R
- Target Student Data
- Peer to Peer Program - Student with ASD Data

Please contact your START RCN Representative or Jana Benjamin if you have any questions or need assistance.

RCN Contacts and Email Updates

Reminder! Enter your Fiscal Agent Information, Report Contact Information, RCN Leadership, and District Representatives on the 22-23 RCN Contacts spreadsheet located in your Google Drive Folder. START will send RCN update emails to the District Representatives and RCN leadership.

Update your spreadsheet throughout the year to ensure your RCN Leadership and RCN District Representatives receive RCN Updates from START.

START Trainings and Events

Please visit the START website for the events and trainings for 2022-2023. We plan to offer the following trainings in different formats throughout the upcoming school year:

Peer to Peer
FAPE in the LRE - Registration for the Nov. 3 FAPE in the LRE training is open until noon on Nov. 2
Education-Based Evaluations
Self-Management
Peer to Peer 2.0
Transforming Transition Together (T3)

Transforming Transition Together (T3) Training Series

We are excited to announce dates and topics for our virtual Transforming Transition Together (T3) Training Series! Each standalone training will be held from 4:00 - 5:15 p.m.

Registration is open! Let's start the transformation!

November 16, 2022 - Planning for Competitive Integrated Employment: V3 Discovery Checklist
December 14, 2022 - Education, IEP, and Transition Planning: Personal Curriculum
January 11, 2023 - Preparing for Competitive Integrated Employment: Leveraging Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS)

Visit the START website to view the dates and topics for the remainder of the year.

Save the Date!

22nd Annual START Conference
May 1, 2023; 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center

Spring RCN Leadership Day
May 2, 2023; 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center

2022-2023 EPLI Updates

The 2022-2023 EPLI Application is now available. We are also pleased to announce that we have expanded the EPLI Focus Course and are now able to offer multiple date options for each Zoom session and the EPLI Trainer Focus Day. Please review the dates for this year as the application deadline now corresponds with the first Zoom Sessions.

As a reminder, all RCN have access to the RCN Trainer Portal, which is a status log of each RCN's Current Trainers, Inactive Trainers, and New Applicants. You can find information about accessing your RCN's Trainer Portal here.

Please note: The requirement to attend Intensive Training in the past 3 years (along with the PBIS and ESS modules) has not changed. Since START is not offering Intensive Training this year, we are only able to accept applicants who have already attended the trainings at either K-12 Wayne, K-12 Kent, or K-12 Monroe.

As a project, we understand that this will postpone the process for new trainers, but this is an important planning year for START as we need to dedicate significant staff time and energy over the next year to resource development. We are prioritizing our work around updated resources that are easily available, broken into smaller chunks of content, and accessible for the RCN. This also includes prioritizing the development of on-demand resources and training materials for trainers.

We intend to have opportunities for more people to apply to be an EPLI trainer in 2023-2024. If you have any questions, please reach out to your RCN leadership or START RCN representative.

Communities of Practice (CoP)

Please visit the START website for information and meeting dates for the Communities of Practice:

Educational Supports and Strategies CoP
Peer to Peer (P2P) CoP
Practical Functional Assessment and Skill-based Treatment (PFA-SBT) CoP
Secondary Transition CoP
Sexual Health CoP

If you have any questions about a CoP, please contact your RCN Leadership Representatives or your START RCN representative.

Peer to Peer Playbooks, Effective Teaming and Meeting Mechanics Resource Manuals, and START-er Kits

START has the following available for ordering at no cost to the RCN:

Elementary Peer to Peer Playbooks
Secondary Peer to Peer Playbooks
Effective Teaming and Meeting Mechanics Resource Manuals
START-er Kits (a mixture of 45-50 START-ism branded items)

START will collect orders for these items from the first through the third week of each month. All items will ship following the order window. The order form is available here.

RCN Trainings for the START Website

Each RCN should submit at least one RCN-provided stand-alone training per semester using START content delivered by START EPLI trainers. The training will be included in the events listed on the START website, and should be open to the RCN and the broader region, including families and community partners. Trainings should be submitted here.

The trainings will be posted here on the START website as they are received. Please share this with your local contacts.

Featured in October's START Connecting

Together We Thrive: All Students Benefit as Peer Supports:

Who are the LINK students in your Peer to Peer programs? You might be inclined to invite high-performing students to participate as peer supports. After all, these are the students who are engaged in classes and can serve as “ideal” role models. However, the data from the START Project peer outcomes study (Owen-DeSchryver et al., 2022) suggest that being a peer support can benefit a different subset of students in your school: students with lower GPAs, lower attendance, and behavior support needs. Read more about the START Project peer outcomes study here!

Critical Question #1

Whose perspectives are represented in this work?

Consider a component of your work for a moment. Perhaps you are making decisions about hosting a family event at your school, forming a team to implement behavioral supports school-wide or for an individual student, or selecting curricular materials. Who is currently at the table? Is it primarily teaching staff or other educators? Is there family representation? Student representation?

If we want to create a more inclusive environment, we need to first reflect on whose perspectives are currently represented in our work and begin to address any implicit biases that we may hold that may prevent us from genuinely inviting and welcoming diverse perspectives. We invite you to explore this question in more depth by reviewing activities, resources, and START's commitment related to this question.

Statewide Autism Resources and Training (START) Project is funded by the Michigan Department of Education, Office of Special
Education to provide training and technical assistance to educators in Michigan that serve students with ASD.
START Project | autismed@gvsu.edu | (616) 331-6480

401 W. Fulton St.
388C DEV
Grand Rapids, MI 49504