I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5195 

To establish a 5-year demonstration program to provide skills to classroom 

teachers and staff who work with children with autism spectrum disorders. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 27, 2012 

Mr. MORAN (for himself and Mr. DOYLE) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To establish a 5-year demonstration program to provide skills 

to classroom teachers and staff who work with children 

with autism spectrum disorders. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Autism Understanding 

5 and Training in School Methodologies for Educators Act 

6 of 2012’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 The Congress finds as follows: 

9 (1) Autism is a group of complex developmental 

10 brain disorders collectively referred to as Autism 


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1 Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) that can cause a wide 

2 range of symptoms, skills, and levels of impairment 

3 including social, communication and behavior 

4 changes. 

5 (2) Autism spectrum disorders are also referred 

6 to as pervasive developmental disorders and include 

7 subcategories of classic autism with ranges from 

8 high functioning autism (HFA) to low functioning 

9 autism, Asperger syndrome, and pervasive develop10 mental disorder, not otherwise specified (PDD– 

11 NOS), as well as more severe cases of Rhett Syn12 drome and Child Disintegrative Disorder. 

13 (3) Autism affects an estimated 1 in 88 chil14 dren by age 8 and 1 in 54 boys. 

15 (4) An estimated 1,500,000 individuals in the 

16 United States are affected by autism. 

17 (5) More children will be diagnosed with autism 

18 this year than with AIDS, diabetes, and cancer com19 bined. 

20 (6) Autism is the fastest growing serious devel21 opmental disability in the United States. 

22 (7) Autism costs the Nation over 

23 $35,000,000,000 per year, a figure expected to sig24 nificantly increase in the next decade. 


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1 (8) Boys are five times more likely than girls to 

2 have autism. 

3 (9) There is currently no medical cure for au4 tism, but there are evidence-based educational meth5 ods proven to be effective in improving outcomes for 

6 students with autism and research demonstrating 

7 the benefits of routine and consistency. 

8 (10) The least restrictive environment for edu9 cating students with autism spectrum disorder, in10 cluding, but not limited to, students with high func11 tioning autism, Asperger syndrome, and PDD–NOS, 

12 often is best achieved by enrollment in a general 

13 education classroom with proper support. 

14 (11) General education classroom teachers and 

15 staff often are not adequately trained to work effec16 tively with students with autism spectrum disorders, 

17 who have a wide diversity of characteristics, al18 though such skills may be attained through qualified 

19 training programs and may be relatively easy to im20 plement in school settings. 

21 (12) Training general education classroom 

22 teachers and staff to implement evidence-based prac23 tices for educating students with autism spectrum 

24 disorders with accuracy and fidelity will help provide 


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1 for best possible outcomes not only for students with 

2 autism, but also for other students in the classroom. 

3 (13) Children with autism in highly transient 

4 families, such as the military (where the rate of chil5 dren on the spectrum is even higher) and foreign 

6 service families, often face additional challenges in 

7 the public education system because of frequent 

8 changes in the family’s geographic duty station or a 

9 parent’s deployment, which can interrupt the provi10 sion of appropriate interventions and continuity of 

11 effective educational methods. 

12 (14) In school districts that have a large popu13 lation of transient families or that border military 

14 bases it is especially important to have staff who are 

15 highly trained to provide effective services and build 

16 a proven track record of academic achievement in 

17 serving students with autism. 

18 SEC. 3. DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

19 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF GRANT PROGRAM.—The 

20 Secretary is authorized to carry out a demonstration grant 

21 program to award grants to eligible entities to enable such 

22 entities to accomplish the purposes described in subsection 

23 (b). 

24 (b) PURPOSES.—A grant provided under this section 

25 shall be used for the following purposes within schools proVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:24 May 03, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5195.IH H5195

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1 viding education to children in grades pre-kindergarten 

2 through 12: 

3 (1) Providing evidence-based, in-service training 

4 to teachers, paraprofessionals, and other staff on ef5 fective ways to teach, communicate, recognize, sup6 port, and interact with children with autism spec7 trum disorder in the classroom and related school 

8 settings. Training on providing effective support in9 cludes but is not limited to academic support, behav10 ioral support, communication support, social emo11 tional support, and facilitating positive peer inter12 actions and social skills. 

13 (2) Providing technical assistance consisting of 

14 consultation on the type of training needed, hands15 on opportunities to practice and perform newly ac16 quired skills and methodologies with fidelity, and 

17 post-training support to ensure accuracy of imple18 mentation in the classroom. 

19 (3) Executing strategies for recruiting and re20 taining skilled personnel participating in the edu21 cation of children with autism spectrum disorders. 

22 (4) Implementing a program of parental sup23 port and involvement in the education of students 

24 with autism spectrum disorders. 


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1 (c) DURATION OF GRANTS.—A grant provided under 

2 this section shall be— 

3 (1) for a period of not more than 5 years, of 

4 which not more than the first 2 years shall be used 

5 for planning; and 

6 (2) subject to annual approval by the Secretary 

7 and subject to the availability of appropriations for 

8 the fiscal year involved. 

9 (d) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—An el10 igible entity may use not more than 20 percent of the 

11 funds received under this section for the administrative 

12 costs of carrying out its responsibilities under this section. 

13 (e) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

14 under this section, an eligible entity shall submit an appli15 cation to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 

16 containing such information as the Secretary may require. 

17 (f) REPORT.—The Secretary shall conduct an evalua18 tion of the demonstration program authorized by this sec19 tion and, not later than 1 year after the date of the com20 pletion of the demonstration program, shall prepare and 

21 submit to the President and the Congress a report on such 

22 evaluation, together with recommendations for dissemina23 tion and replication of the results of the program. 

24 (g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 


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1 (1) The term ‘‘autism spectrum disorders 

2 (ASDs)’’ refers to complex disorders of brain devel3 opment that can affect individuals with varying de4 grees from mild to severe, and is characterized by a 

5 combination of restricted repetitive and stereotyped 

6 behaviors, interests and activities; qualitative impair7 ments in social interactions; and qualitative impair8 ments in verbal and nonverbal communication. 

9 (2) The term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means an eligible 

10 local educational agency, or a consortia of such 

11 agencies, in partnership with— 

12 (A) one or more institutions of higher edu13 cation; or 

14 (B) one or more nonprofit educational en15 tities with documented expertise in working 

16 with children with autism. 

17 (3) The term ‘‘eligible local educational agency’’ 

18 means a local educational agency that has no less 

19 than 10 percent of its special education population 

20 identified with autism spectrum disorders, including, 

21 but not limited to, high functioning autism, 

22 Asperger syndrome, and PDD–NOS, and have docu23 mented a growth pattern in the number of these stu24 dents. 


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1 (4) The term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ 

2 has the meaning given such term in section 102 of 

3 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

4 1002). 

5 (5) The term ‘‘local educational agency’’ has 

6 the meaning given the term in section 9101 of the 

7 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

8 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

9 (6) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

10 of Education. 

Æ 


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