April 14, 2023 • 17 mins
Nearly 1 in 36 children in the U.S. have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) according to the CDC. The National Institute of Mental health defines ASD as a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people interact with others, communicate, learn, and behave. Arizona Autism Charter School (AZACS) is the first and only public charter school in Arizona focused on meeting the individualized educational needs of K-12 students with autism. Hear from the founder and Executive Director of Arizona Autism Charter Schools on how this school is serving students with unique needs.
Takeaways
Diana Diaz-Harrison
Founder & Executive Director, Arizona Autism Charter Schools
https://www.linkedin.com/in/diana-diaz-harrison-b68855116/
https://www.autismcharter.org/
Takeaways
- Learn how Diana’s personal experience inspired her to open a school dedicated to serving students with unique abilities.
- Hear how Arizona Autism Charter School provides an optimal learning environment for students with special needs.
- For parents who may have children with special needs, remain encouraged and do not give up on finding the best fit school where your scholar can be themselves and thrive.
Diana Diaz-Harrison
Founder & Executive Director, Arizona Autism Charter Schools
https://www.linkedin.com/in/diana-diaz-harrison-b68855116/
https://www.autismcharter.org/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Thank you for tuning into the GetSchooled on Public Education podcast. I'm your
host, Brittany Baker, and remember, charter schools are public schools. April
is National Autism Acceptance Month. Today, I am honored to have the founder
and executive director of Arizona Autism CharterSchools, Diana dis Harrison, with us
(00:28):
today. Az ACS is the firstpublic charter school in Arizona that is focused
on meeting the individualized needs of studentswith autism in grades K through twelve.
Diana, thank you for joining ourpodcast today. How are you? I
am wonderful. I'm so happy tobe here with you, especially during Autism
(00:48):
Acceptance Month. Yes, your passionfor helping students with autism is a cause
that is extremely close to your heart. Your son was diagnosed with autism in
two thousand and four. What wereyour first thoughts and feelings back then.
It's a little hard to talk aboutthat, but because when I first learned
(01:11):
that he had autism, it wasa lot of processing and a lot of
grieving the child that I thought Iwould have and then who my child was.
And also he had a lot ofdifficulty and regression during his eighteen to
two year old age bracket. Soit was a hard time as a mom
(01:37):
for sure, but I am definitelynot there today. Today I celebrate his
neurodiversity, his and the hundreds ofstudents that were able to serve inspired by
him, And we see our kidsas very capable learners that are neuro diverse.
They learned differently, so it's allabout setting up the environment to make
(02:00):
it optimal for their learning. Andhow did that experience motivate you to start
a school dedicated to helping other studentswith autism. I always saw how in
our early intervention clinical services, alot of the work with my son was
very small group or one on one. That's what he needed to move forward
(02:22):
in his skills, and sadly,when he became school aged, that really
was not offered in typical public schools. So I really wanted an environment that
mirrored the best practices that I hadlearned in clinical settings, but brought them
to a school setting so that studentscould thrive and enjoy that during their K
(02:45):
twelve experience and not just an earlyintervention. All of our teaching programs are
very personalized, very small group.We infuse a lot of innovation and interesting
steam curriculum, project based learning.Inspired by my son and all that he
could do, we thought this shouldbe offered tuition free for students across Arizona
(03:09):
and beyond. And how would yousay the charter school model helped to make
this work for your son and kidsin the community that needed this type of
school. I think it was greatto start as a charter school. You
know, we could have started asa private school, but I really loved
that in the charter movement, it'sall about demonstrating through quality education and data
(03:37):
that students can move forward, notjust in their academics, but in their
social, emotional learning and their behavioralhealth. So the charter school model seemed
to be the best fit for usbecause we could offer all of that quality
tuition free, with no worries aboutyou know, where's the money going to
(03:58):
come from to pay for this.So we're excited. We think a choice
is only a choice if parents canafford it and access that choice. Special
needs parents already have a lot toworry about, and we want school to
be one less thing. We wantparents to know that we understand the kids
that they learn differently, that wemay need to catch them up on some
(04:23):
behavioral skills. That's okay, that'swhat we do. So offering this as
a choice school and as a chartermodel has been the best that we could
do because we're more accessible to families. In twenty fourteen, Arizona Autism Charter
School officially opened, serving nineties studentsin K through five. And fast forward
(04:45):
to twenty twenty three, you allhave expanded to serve up to the twelfth
grades. How many students do youall serve today and what do you think
has contributed to the steady growth ofyour school? So now we went from
ninety students to seven hundred and twentyfive this school year. Next school year
we're growing to about a thousand.So I think the quality programming the small
(05:12):
class sizes the specialty in providing thetherapeutic practices for children with autism, and
being more accessible to families by openingin several parts of the valley here central
Phoenix, we're now in the WestValley, tucsonon is coming in the next
school year, which is a differentcounty. And we've also launched a transportation
(05:35):
program to make it easier for ourkids to get here. All of those
contributing factors have helped us be inhigh demand. I would say our biggest
challenge is keeping up with demand.Yes, we know that students with unique
(05:55):
abilities have varying needs. How doyou support each student to grow and thrive
in their own special way. Yes, we proudly serve the whole spectrum,
from students who are nonverbal and haveintensive needs to students who are very high
functioning and just have some gap skillsin their social and their social skills and
(06:20):
you know, perhaps have some scatteredskills and academics, but they don't have
an intellectual disability. We serve studentsfrom those two ends up the spectrum to
everyone in between. We do thatby grouping our students viabilities and needs.
We have an academic program for studentsworking at our near grade level, a
(06:43):
modified program for students falling in between, and a functional academic program for students
who need to learn functional forms ofcommunication, who need more support to engage
in tasks, and who still arelearning math, ela science, social study.
All of our students engage in projectbased learning, and that is a
(07:03):
beautiful thing to see because we don'tleave anybody out. We see all of
our students as very capable and productivelearners. I mean you all use the
applied behavior analysis approach. Can youtell us about ABA and your experience with
using this as a way to helpdifferent types of learners. So ABA is
(07:26):
a super data driven type of interventionwhere through assessments, we analyze students gap
skills, whether they are in thelife skills domain or academics or communication.
And then we build programs that arevery chunked by very discrete tasks, and
we take data on every single step, very frequently to make sure the student
(07:53):
is closing the gap on those areasto help them acquire the foundational learning to
learn skills so that they can moveforward and be better suited to navigate the
school environment. And you know,starting with one on one to small groups
to a little bit larger settings.So it's very fun to see how much
(08:13):
the students can grow and learn becausewe have a lot of ways to track
that data. We love that ourstudents also own their own data. All
throughout the school, we have databulletin boards and celebration awards. Every time
a student masters even the smallest skill, they are celebrated and we celebrate as
(08:35):
a community. Well that sounds amazing. I hope that we get to visit
the nationalized because to visit someday.How do you all collaborate with parents to
foster a supportive learning environment for students. So we collaborate with parents. You
know, we have the usual thingslike parent teacher conferences, we have IAP
(09:00):
meetings. What we do that isabove and beyond I think, is we
really change the narrative for parents aboutwhat their children can do. You know,
they come from environments where all theytalk about is what our special needs
kids can't do. But here wehave quarterly showcases where our kids get to
(09:20):
present their projects and their collaborative workthat they've done over a quarter with their
peers, and they get to presentit to their families as a culminating activity
and get so much positive feedback.Parents walk away in tears because they never
thought their child could participate and contributeto a steam project, but they do,
(09:43):
and we show that quarterly, soparents get super excited about, you
know, what's the next thing theirkid is going to build. We also
have student digital portfolios so that anytimeparents want to, they can see their
students' data. They can see samplework projects, they can see photos and
(10:05):
videos of what their kids are learningin school. We get that once a
month as parents. I experience itas a parent myself, and I tell
my teachers, I really feel likeevery time you send me that portfolio link,
I'm opening a present seeing all thefun things that my student has been
learning and working on with his peers. And it's fun to see how they
(10:28):
evolve and how they become more engaged. You know. For older students like
my son, they have entrepreneurial businesses. They have a coffee business, they
sell things around campus, they doteacher delivery orders. And even though you
know, I'm not glued to himall day every day, I get to
(10:48):
see and open his portfolio once amonth and be very proud of what he
can do and grateful to the teamthat makes that happen. For parents who
have children with thought or children withspecial needs, what are some of the
main qualities you recommend they look forin a school. I would say anything
(11:09):
that is smaller group and has personalizedlearning programs would be very good for our
kids. A lot of our kidsdo have you know, perhaps they're on
grade level in math, but theircommunication is very you know, a few
years behind. So a school thathas personalized learning can help them stay challenged
(11:31):
in math, but can help themwith functional communication so that we bridge the
gap in that area. So thatcan only be done, you know,
in small group environments where there's alot of data collection and the willingness to
meet kids where they are. Ithink personalized learning is really good for all
kids, because some of our kiddosthat are neurotypical have gaps for different reasons.
(11:56):
You know, there was so muchlearning loss over the pandemic that really
small group personalized learning is the wayto go, especially for kids on the
spectrum. And how do you feelthe charter school model allows you to provide
these services and this type of school. Well, our charter in particular,
(12:18):
and many charters are very parent driven. You know, I was fortunate enough
and did the hard work, youknow, to dream of a model school
that would really meet my kids needs. And we're able to design that and
put our resources into the classrooms tomake those visions a reality that any parent
(12:39):
would want for their kid. Ourboard is about fifty percent parents, and
when we had our founding design team, it was also a majority of parents,
So you know, for us parents, it's really more than a school.
It's not a business, it's reallywhat our kids need, and allocating
all the resources into the classroom,the staff, the curriculum materials, the
(13:03):
hands on learning projects, all ofthat desire and willingness to see our kids
thrive helps us funnel the resources intothe classrooms. So as a charter,
we have a lot of accountability,but we also have the autonomy to put
the resources where they're going to makethe most impact. In twenty twenty two,
(13:28):
Arizona Autism Charter School was awarded theYaz Prize. The Yaz Prize recognizes
the best education providers in the US. What was it like to win this
honor and how would this impact yourschool? It was an amazing surprise and
honor to win the Yas Prize.We were competing with charter schools, public
(13:52):
schools with special programs, private schools. It was very much an all in
national competition, so you know,we went into it giving it our best
shot. You know, we knewthat we had excellent stories and data about
what our kids can do. AndI got to pitch and make it to
the semifinals, then the finals,and it was such an honor to come
(14:15):
out as the top winner. Ithink it's because the YAZ Prize family recognizes
that neurodiversity is growing and we cannotstop innovating because our students learned differently.
On the contrary, we have toinnovate even more so. I was just
so thrilled and please It's brought somany opportunities to our school. It was
(14:39):
awesome to get that award in NewYork. But just about a week or
two ago we brought that big checkto our kids at a Yas Prize rally.
The best thing of all was tellingthem your hard work, your growth,
your learning helped us be the topYas Prize winner and they feel so
(15:00):
we're special. It's changing the narrativein their own mind about what they can
achieve. Which was a big deala national prize. Yes, that was
just wonderful. I really love howyou all included the students and just really
helped them to understand how they werea part of such a beautiful honor.
(15:22):
How can people support you in yourwork? I think awareness about seeing autism
more as a neurodiversity. I mean, technically it is a disability and it
has its challenges, but there area growing number of kiddos. One in
thirty six per the CDC are onthe autism spectrum and they are very capable
(15:45):
learners and worth investing in. Ifthere are parents out there listening, there's
a lot of hope. Yes,perhaps it's a different journey than the one
you thought you were going to have, but the students, the kids are
equally gracious. You know, theyare so angelic. They have no filter
and that's a good thing. Welet them be who they are and in
(16:07):
the right environment they can thrive.So I encourage parents not to give up
and find that best fit school fortheir kiddo. That's what school choice is
all about. And we are inprocess of making this type of option available
in every major city in America becausewe launch the National Accelerator of Autism Charter
(16:29):
Schools and through partnerships, we arehoping to open a school in every major
city so that no parents should haveto suffer and not have an appropriate school
choice for their child on the spectrum. So we have very big dreams and
lofty goals, but so far that'sworked out really well for us. Yes,
(16:51):
we'll definitely please keep us posted inyour journey. It was such a
pleasure to have you as a guestand learn more about your passion for helping
students. Thank you to Diana DiazHarrison, the founder an executive director of
Arizona Autism Charter Schools. I'm yourhost, Brittany Baker, and thank you
for listening to Get Schooled on PublicEducation, produced by Hardcast Media,
Thank you for tuning into the GetSchooled on Public Education podcast. I'm your
host, Brittany Baker, and remember, charter schools are public schools. April
is National Autism Acceptance Month. Today, I am honored to have the founder
and executive director of Arizona Autism CharterSchools, Diana dis Harrison, with us
(00:28):
today. Az ACS is the firstpublic charter school in Arizona that is focused
on meeting the individualized needs of studentswith autism in grades K through twelve.
Diana, thank you for joining ourpodcast today. How are you? I
am wonderful. I'm so happy tobe here with you, especially during Autism
(00:48):
Acceptance Month. Yes, your passionfor helping students with autism is a cause
that is extremely close to your heart. Your son was diagnosed with autism in
two thousand and four. What wereyour first thoughts and feelings back then.
It's a little hard to talk aboutthat, but because when I first learned
(01:11):
that he had autism, it wasa lot of processing and a lot of
grieving the child that I thought Iwould have and then who my child was.
And also he had a lot ofdifficulty and regression during his eighteen to
two year old age bracket. Soit was a hard time as a mom
(01:37):
for sure, but I am definitelynot there today. Today I celebrate his
neurodiversity, his and the hundreds ofstudents that were able to serve inspired by
him, And we see our kidsas very capable learners that are neuro diverse.
They learned differently, so it's allabout setting up the environment to make
(02:00):
it optimal for their learning. Andhow did that experience motivate you to start
a school dedicated to helping other studentswith autism. I always saw how in
our early intervention clinical services, alot of the work with my son was
very small group or one on one. That's what he needed to move forward
(02:22):
in his skills, and sadly,when he became school aged, that really
was not offered in typical public schools. So I really wanted an environment that
mirrored the best practices that I hadlearned in clinical settings, but brought them
to a school setting so that studentscould thrive and enjoy that during their K
(02:45):
twelve experience and not just an earlyintervention. All of our teaching programs are
very personalized, very small group.We infuse a lot of innovation and interesting
steam curriculum, project based learning.Inspired by my son and all that he
could do, we thought this shouldbe offered tuition free for students across Arizona
(03:09):
and beyond. And how would yousay the charter school model helped to make
this work for your son and kidsin the community that needed this type of
school. I think it was greatto start as a charter school. You
know, we could have started asa private school, but I really loved
that in the charter movement, it'sall about demonstrating through quality education and data
(03:37):
that students can move forward, notjust in their academics, but in their
social, emotional learning and their behavioralhealth. So the charter school model seemed
to be the best fit for usbecause we could offer all of that quality
tuition free, with no worries aboutyou know, where's the money going to
(03:58):
come from to pay for this.So we're excited. We think a choice
is only a choice if parents canafford it and access that choice. Special
needs parents already have a lot toworry about, and we want school to
be one less thing. We wantparents to know that we understand the kids
that they learn differently, that wemay need to catch them up on some
(04:23):
behavioral skills. That's okay, that'swhat we do. So offering this as
a choice school and as a chartermodel has been the best that we could
do because we're more accessible to families. In twenty fourteen, Arizona Autism Charter
School officially opened, serving nineties studentsin K through five. And fast forward
(04:45):
to twenty twenty three, you allhave expanded to serve up to the twelfth
grades. How many students do youall serve today and what do you think
has contributed to the steady growth ofyour school? So now we went from
ninety students to seven hundred and twentyfive this school year. Next school year
we're growing to about a thousand.So I think the quality programming the small
(05:12):
class sizes the specialty in providing thetherapeutic practices for children with autism, and
being more accessible to families by openingin several parts of the valley here central
Phoenix, we're now in the WestValley, tucsonon is coming in the next
school year, which is a differentcounty. And we've also launched a transportation
(05:35):
program to make it easier for ourkids to get here. All of those
contributing factors have helped us be inhigh demand. I would say our biggest
challenge is keeping up with demand.Yes, we know that students with unique
(05:55):
abilities have varying needs. How doyou support each student to grow and thrive
in their own special way. Yes, we proudly serve the whole spectrum,
from students who are nonverbal and haveintensive needs to students who are very high
functioning and just have some gap skillsin their social and their social skills and
(06:20):
you know, perhaps have some scatteredskills and academics, but they don't have
an intellectual disability. We serve studentsfrom those two ends up the spectrum to
everyone in between. We do thatby grouping our students viabilities and needs.
We have an academic program for studentsworking at our near grade level, a
(06:43):
modified program for students falling in between, and a functional academic program for students
who need to learn functional forms ofcommunication, who need more support to engage
in tasks, and who still arelearning math, ela science, social study.
All of our students engage in projectbased learning, and that is a
(07:03):
beautiful thing to see because we don'tleave anybody out. We see all of
our students as very capable and productivelearners. I mean you all use the
applied behavior analysis approach. Can youtell us about ABA and your experience with
using this as a way to helpdifferent types of learners. So ABA is
(07:26):
a super data driven type of interventionwhere through assessments, we analyze students gap
skills, whether they are in thelife skills domain or academics or communication.
And then we build programs that arevery chunked by very discrete tasks, and
we take data on every single step, very frequently to make sure the student
(07:53):
is closing the gap on those areasto help them acquire the foundational learning to
learn skills so that they can moveforward and be better suited to navigate the
school environment. And you know,starting with one on one to small groups
to a little bit larger settings.So it's very fun to see how much
(08:13):
the students can grow and learn becausewe have a lot of ways to track
that data. We love that ourstudents also own their own data. All
throughout the school, we have databulletin boards and celebration awards. Every time
a student masters even the smallest skill, they are celebrated and we celebrate as
(08:35):
a community. Well that sounds amazing. I hope that we get to visit
the nationalized because to visit someday.How do you all collaborate with parents to
foster a supportive learning environment for students. So we collaborate with parents. You
know, we have the usual thingslike parent teacher conferences, we have IAP
(09:00):
meetings. What we do that isabove and beyond I think, is we
really change the narrative for parents aboutwhat their children can do. You know,
they come from environments where all theytalk about is what our special needs
kids can't do. But here wehave quarterly showcases where our kids get to
(09:20):
present their projects and their collaborative workthat they've done over a quarter with their
peers, and they get to presentit to their families as a culminating activity
and get so much positive feedback.Parents walk away in tears because they never
thought their child could participate and contributeto a steam project, but they do,
(09:43):
and we show that quarterly, soparents get super excited about, you
know, what's the next thing theirkid is going to build. We also
have student digital portfolios so that anytimeparents want to, they can see their
students' data. They can see samplework projects, they can see photos and
(10:05):
videos of what their kids are learningin school. We get that once a
month as parents. I experience itas a parent myself, and I tell
my teachers, I really feel likeevery time you send me that portfolio link,
I'm opening a present seeing all thefun things that my student has been
learning and working on with his peers. And it's fun to see how they
(10:28):
evolve and how they become more engaged. You know. For older students like
my son, they have entrepreneurial businesses. They have a coffee business, they
sell things around campus, they doteacher delivery orders. And even though you
know, I'm not glued to himall day every day, I get to
(10:48):
see and open his portfolio once amonth and be very proud of what he
can do and grateful to the teamthat makes that happen. For parents who
have children with thought or children withspecial needs, what are some of the
main qualities you recommend they look forin a school. I would say anything
(11:09):
that is smaller group and has personalizedlearning programs would be very good for our
kids. A lot of our kidsdo have you know, perhaps they're on
grade level in math, but theircommunication is very you know, a few
years behind. So a school thathas personalized learning can help them stay challenged
(11:31):
in math, but can help themwith functional communication so that we bridge the
gap in that area. So thatcan only be done, you know,
in small group environments where there's alot of data collection and the willingness to
meet kids where they are. Ithink personalized learning is really good for all
kids, because some of our kiddosthat are neurotypical have gaps for different reasons.
(11:56):
You know, there was so muchlearning loss over the pandemic that really
small group personalized learning is the wayto go, especially for kids on the
spectrum. And how do you feelthe charter school model allows you to provide
these services and this type of school. Well, our charter in particular,
(12:18):
and many charters are very parent driven. You know, I was fortunate enough
and did the hard work, youknow, to dream of a model school
that would really meet my kids needs. And we're able to design that and
put our resources into the classrooms tomake those visions a reality that any parent
(12:39):
would want for their kid. Ourboard is about fifty percent parents, and
when we had our founding design team, it was also a majority of parents,
So you know, for us parents, it's really more than a school.
It's not a business, it's reallywhat our kids need, and allocating
all the resources into the classroom,the staff, the curriculum materials, the
(13:03):
hands on learning projects, all ofthat desire and willingness to see our kids
thrive helps us funnel the resources intothe classrooms. So as a charter,
we have a lot of accountability,but we also have the autonomy to put
the resources where they're going to makethe most impact. In twenty twenty two,
(13:28):
Arizona Autism Charter School was awarded theYaz Prize. The Yaz Prize recognizes
the best education providers in the US. What was it like to win this
honor and how would this impact yourschool? It was an amazing surprise and
honor to win the Yas Prize.We were competing with charter schools, public
(13:52):
schools with special programs, private schools. It was very much an all in
national competition, so you know,we went into it giving it our best
shot. You know, we knewthat we had excellent stories and data about
what our kids can do. AndI got to pitch and make it to
the semifinals, then the finals,and it was such an honor to come
(14:15):
out as the top winner. Ithink it's because the YAZ Prize family recognizes
that neurodiversity is growing and we cannotstop innovating because our students learned differently.
On the contrary, we have toinnovate even more so. I was just
so thrilled and please It's brought somany opportunities to our school. It was
(14:39):
awesome to get that award in NewYork. But just about a week or
two ago we brought that big checkto our kids at a Yas Prize rally.
The best thing of all was tellingthem your hard work, your growth,
your learning helped us be the topYas Prize winner and they feel so
(15:00):
we're special. It's changing the narrativein their own mind about what they can
achieve. Which was a big deala national prize. Yes, that was
just wonderful. I really love howyou all included the students and just really
helped them to understand how they werea part of such a beautiful honor.
(15:22):
How can people support you in yourwork? I think awareness about seeing autism
more as a neurodiversity. I mean, technically it is a disability and it
has its challenges, but there area growing number of kiddos. One in
thirty six per the CDC are onthe autism spectrum and they are very capable
(15:45):
learners and worth investing in. Ifthere are parents out there listening, there's
a lot of hope. Yes,perhaps it's a different journey than the one
you thought you were going to have, but the students, the kids are
equally gracious. You know, theyare so angelic. They have no filter
and that's a good thing. Welet them be who they are and in
(16:07):
the right environment they can thrive.So I encourage parents not to give up
and find that best fit school fortheir kiddo. That's what school choice is
all about. And we are inprocess of making this type of option available
in every major city in America becausewe launch the National Accelerator of Autism Charter
(16:29):
Schools and through partnerships, we arehoping to open a school in every major
city so that no parents should haveto suffer and not have an appropriate school
choice for their child on the spectrum. So we have very big dreams and
lofty goals, but so far that'sworked out really well for us. Yes,
(16:51):
we'll definitely please keep us posted inyour journey. It was such a
pleasure to have you as a guestand learn more about your passion for helping
students. Thank you to Diana DiazHarrison, the founder an executive director of
Arizona Autism Charter Schools. I'm yourhost, Brittany Baker, and thank you
for listening to Get Schooled on PublicEducation, produced by Hardcast Media,
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