I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1509 

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 11, 2013 

Mr. MORAN (for himself, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. WOLF, and Mr. MCKINLEY) 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 2013’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 The Congress finds as follows: 


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1 (1) Autism is a group of complex developmental 

2 brain disorders collectively referred to as Autism 

3 Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) that can cause a wide 

4 range of symptoms, skills, and levels of impairment 

5 including social, communication and behavior 

6 changes. 

7 (2) Autism spectrum disorders are also referred 

8 to as pervasive developmental disorders and include 

9 subcategories of classic autism with ranges from 

10 high functioning autism (HFA) to low functioning 

11 autism, Asperger syndrome, and pervasive develop12 mental disorder–not otherwise specified (PDD– 

13 NOS), as well as more severe cases of Rhett Syn14 drome and Child Disintegrative Disorder. 

15 (3) Autism affects an estimated 1 in 88 chil16 dren by age 8 and 1 in 54 boys. 

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

18 United States are affected by autism. 

19 (5) More children will be diagnosed with autism 

20 this year than with AIDS, diabetes, and cancer com21 bined. 

22 (6) Autism is the fastest growing serious devel23 opmental disability in the United States. 


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1 (7) Autism costs the Nation over 

2 $35,000,000,000 per year, a figure expected to sig3 nificantly increase in the next decade. 

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

5 have autism. 

6 (9) There is currently no medical cure for au7 tism, but there are evidence-based educational meth8 ods proven to be effective in improving outcomes for 

9 students with autism and research demonstrating 

10 the benefits of routine and consistency. 

11 (10) The least restrictive environment for edu12 cating students with autism spectrum disorder, in13 cluding, but not limited to, students with high func14 tioning autism, Asperger syndrome, and PDD–NOS, 

15 often is best achieved by enrollment in a general 

16 education classroom with proper support. 

17 (11) General education classroom teachers and 

18 staff often are not adequately trained to work effec19 tively with students with autism spectrum disorders, 

20 who have a wide diversity of characteristics, al21 though such skills may be attained through qualified 

22 training programs and may be relatively easy to im23 plement in school settings. 

24 (12) Training general education classroom 

25 teachers and staff to implement evidence-based pracVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:57 Apr 18, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1509.IH H1509

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1 tices for educating students with autism spectrum 

2 disorders with accuracy and fidelity will help provide 

3 for best possible outcomes not only for students with 

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

5 (13) Children with autism in highly transient 

6 families, such as the military (where the rate of chil7 dren on the spectrum is even higher) and foreign 

8 service families, often face additional challenges in 

9 the public education system because of frequent 

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

11 parent’s deployment, which can interrupt the provi12 sion of appropriate interventions and continuity of 

13 effective educational methods. 

14 (14) In school districts that have a large popu15 lation of transient families or that border military 

16 bases it is especially important to have staff who are 

17 highly trained to provide effective services and build 

18 a proven track record of academic achievement in 

19 serving students with autism. 

20 SEC. 3. DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

21 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF GRANT PROGRAM.—The 

22 Secretary is authorized to carry out a demonstration grant 

23 program to award grants to eligible entities to enable such 

24 entities to accomplish the purposes described in subsection 

25 (b). 


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

2 shall be used for the following purposes within schools pro3 viding education to children in grades pre-kindergarten 

4 through 12: 

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

6 to teachers, paraprofessionals, and other staff on ef7 fective ways to teach, communicate, recognize, sup8 port, and interact with children with autism spec9 trum disorder in the classroom and related school 

10 settings. Training on providing effective support in11 cludes but is not limited to academic support, behav12 ioral support, communication support, social emo13 tional support, and facilitating positive peer inter14 actions and social skills. 

15 (2) Providing technical assistance consisting of 

16 consultation on the type of training needed, hands17 on opportunities to practice and perform newly ac18 quired skills and methodologies with fidelity, and 

19 post-training support to ensure accuracy of imple20 mentation in the classroom. 

21 (3) Executing strategies for recruiting and re22 taining skilled personnel participating in the edu23 cation of children with autism spectrum disorders. 


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1 (4) Implementing a program of parental sup2 port and involvement in the education of students 

3 with autism spectrum disorders. 

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

5 this section shall be— 

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

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

8 for planning; and 

9 (2) subject to annual approval by the Secretary 

10 and subject to the availability of appropriations for 

11 the fiscal year involved. 

12 (d) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—An el13 igible entity may use not more than 20 percent of the 

14 funds received under this section for the administrative 

15 costs of carrying out its responsibilities under this section. 

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

17 under this section, an eligible entity shall submit an appli18 cation to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 

19 containing such information as the Secretary may require. 

20 (f) REPORT.—The Secretary shall conduct an evalua21 tion of the demonstration program authorized by this sec22 tion and, not later than 1 year after the date of the com23 pletion of the demonstration program, shall prepare and 

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


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1 evaluation, together with recommendations for dissemina2 tion and replication of the results of the program. 

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

4 (1) The term ‘‘autism spectrum disorders 

5 (ASDs)’’ refers to complex disorders of brain devel6 opment that can affect individuals with varying de7 grees from mild to severe, and is characterized by a 

8 combination of restricted repetitive and stereotyped 

9 behaviors, interests and activities; qualitative impair10 ments in social interactions; and qualitative impair11 ments in verbal and nonverbal communication. 

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

13 local educational agency, or a consortia of such 

14 agencies, in partnership with— 

15 (A) one or more institutions of higher edu16 cation; or 

17 (B) one or more nonprofit educational en18 tities with documented expertise in working 

19 with children with autism. 

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

21 means a local educational agency that has no less 

22 than 10 percent of its special education population 

23 identified with autism spectrum disorders, including, 

24 but not limited to, high functioning autism, 

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1 mented a growth pattern in the number of these stu2 dents. 

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

4 has the meaning given such term in section 102 of 

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

6 1002). 

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

8 the meaning given the term in section 9101 of the 

9 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

10 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

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

12 of Education. 

Æ 


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