Task Force on Autism
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- October 5, 2026
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
0:00
all right can I get a motion to approve the minutes from November the 17th okay okay
all right second all in favor say aye all right motion passes thank you all right we have a presentation from Arkansas State
University. All right, can you
Speaker 9
0:40
introduce yourself to the meeting or to the committee? Fancy.
Kristen Johnson
Unverified
0:47
Okay, my name is Dr. Kristen
Speaker 13
0:57
Johnson. I'm associate professor of psychology, but I'm
Madison Lewis
Unverified
1:01
also the executive director of RestoreHub. I have the two programs that I'm going to be talking about
today are the Howell and the Atlas Transition Programs, are the two programs that I began
Speaker 13
1:17
back in 2018. Our first class started in 2020. I'm Shane Broadway. I'm the
Speaker 16
1:24
Vice President of University Relations for the Arkansas State University System, and I am her shoulder to cry on. I'm just kidding. She needs no help, but I'm always here to assist her. I'm very proud of the program that she has developed.
Speaker 13
1:44
Okay, ready? Okay. Thank you for having me.
Madison Lewis
Unverified
1:49
I wanted to talk a little bit about both of the programs that we have. They're called Inclusive Post-Secondary Education Programs. There are over 400 around the nation currently, and it has grown rapidly over the past 20 to 25 years, and it is for students that have intellectual developmental disabilities to go to college.
and so in our program because we are a comprehensive transition program you have to have the diagnosis of idd which includes autism we also cover all of our students live on campus and they live anywhere that they want to live on campus so anybody that is a red wolf they might live in case hall or they live in an apartment or wherever they want to live that they get to choose. We also
help with some independents and they also have to have some independents as far as taking medication, not needing an attendant. However, we can do class buddies but not an attendant. So there is a difference. You're admitted to the university unlike some other programs nationally. Our students are actually admitted to the university so they are a full-fledged Red Wolf all the way and so we're very excited about that particular aspect. The application begins like no like any other
student you apply to A-State and then because they select how our atlas they have to then give us additional information so that we can verify that they've met the requirements. We have between 18 and between 10 and 18 students at any given time. Atlas is just has just opened up. We're actually just graduating our first class. That's why our numbers are a little bit lower. How is our comprehensive transition program? Atlas is not a comprehensive transition program.
How started in 2020. We actually opened up in COVID and we were live in person doing our thing in the middle of covid it was fun um it initially started as a two-year program however we are moving all the way through to having options of a two-year three-year and a four-year program all of our students because they are ctp are eligible for financial aid but because they it is a ctp they cannot earn a degree therein lies atlas because we do have students who can
earn a degree but need additional supports on campus and so it opened up and we have years three and four however that will probably change in the next coming years because most of our students that are in that program are degree seeking and so that opens up a whole bunch of other opportunities for students to be able to earn a degree but also get additional supports. It is not comprehensive program but because they are degree seeking they can get financial
aid so we take away the whole idea that they can't earn a degree and they're still eligible for financial aid both programs live on campus both have to have the diagnosis and then both require some ADLs of independence that's required. We slimmed down our classes for Howell across the semesters. We used to have all of our
students, they used to graduate with 51 credit hours, and we slimmed it down because we wanted to have them have more autonomy in what classes, and so it was almost like they were earning a certificate to something and then also taking all of our classes as well so we slimmed down the courses so that we could then partner with ASUN or other certificates that we have on campus and so these are some just the classes that they currently take the how classes that they have
we teach cooking we teach all about relationships and all the things that are needed in relationships whether that's friendships whether that's romantic relationships whether that's relationships at work they also partake in social skills they also partake in social skills for the work environment they also have internship where they learn how to build a resume they also do mock interviews if you know anything about a state we have a place where you
can actually interview and they record you and they give you feedback on your appearance and your body language and all the things and that was brand new so my students were totally amazed after the fall semester of all the feedback that they were given about eye contact and about how they were sitting and about how they dressed to the interview so they also take oral comm everybody that's gone to college loves oral comm yes we love getting up and publicly speaking
and then they also take making connections which is a university-wide course most of our students actually take the classes for credit they don't take them for audit and if they do take it for audit the things that they might be missing are the tests but all the other assignments and group work they are required to do as well. Because we're expanding to year three and year four, they are going into self-exploration and leadership. We have one of our students going
to city council in, I think, the beginning of February because they have been fearless about wanting different things for transportation and so they've already presented once and then they're presenting again for other ideas to make transportation better at Jonesboro and then we have the capstone course of putting everything together so at any time a student can exit because we don't believe that a student needs to stay four years if they have met what they need
to meet to have a fully autonomous independent life at two years they exit it two years if they need the third year they go to three years if they need the four years they go to four years we've had and all of our data that I'm going to be showing you is on our two-year students so that you'll get an idea of how successful or unsuccessful we have been hopefully you'll think the first instead of the second here's some other areas that we actually
support our students we do financial literacy and we also so they have bucks that they can earn but they have to pay rent and they also have to pay food and they also have to do all sorts of things and then once a month they do a spinner for things that come up in life you got a flat tire or you need a new hot water heater or something and so we also talk about savings our students go
grocery shopping so our older students go grocery shopping once a week and they also do meal prep we also have a full-fledged kitchen that we also teach in we do social skills we do community integration. We also have intensive interventions academically in all areas. The data are remarkable on students because I think we potentially don't necessarily focus in on that. It's much more functional when they get to high school, but they rapidly increase on their reading or their math
scores. And I'm not saying that they're college level, but the more that you can read, the better off you are because of contracts that you're going to have to sign because of things that you're going to have to promise because of all those things we also doctors visits and vaccinations and annual visits and dentists they make their own appointments they go they pay their co-pays they have to follow up they do all those things and then they also have to meet requirements either in their dorms or their apartment for hygiene and safety and cleanliness and we actually
monitor that on a weekly basis and if they're consistently at 90 percent or better then we go to a monthly basis and then we do all the things career related because one of the things I think people often think because they don't have a direct career plan like you're going to school to go to culinary well most everybody that comes to college tries figures out what they want to go into right you don't necessarily always know I think I was the only freshman that knew that I
what I wanted to do when I grew up and I'm sitting and I'm doing it right now but I'm the oddball not not the norm and so our students are working they're actually working sometimes the first semester that they walk on campus, if not, that they're working into their second year. And actually, all of our Atlas students are working. Some of them are working a little bit less because they are taking 15 hours, semester hours, so full-time would be inappropriate for them.
Speaker 13
11:39
It would be inappropriate for a lot of people. Community integration, our students are literally everywhere.
Madison Lewis
Unverified
11:48
So we have students that are in the women's business leadership. We have, we have sororities, but we also are, I'm very excited about this particular one, so I'm going to tell you, we had two of our students actually enter the Divine Nine into a fraternity, which was national breaking, because no one had ever entered any fraternity
nationally from an Ipsy program, and nobody had actually entered into a Divine Nine. So we were all the glows about it. Intramurals, Special Olympics, work-study positions, internships, clubs. My students are everywhere. I have learned so much about things that I had no really desire to learn about. But I now know about theater, and I now know about musicals, and I now know about agriculture. And because this is what they want
Speaker 13
12:40
to do, then we have to figure out what that actually looks like.
it goes on and on and on of the
Madison Lewis
Unverified
12:47
number of clubs that they actually are involved in on campus and also off campus. Our students actually volunteer slightly higher than the average rate and so they give back to their communities even if they aren't working necessarily full-time but I don't know a ton of college students that are also working full-time. National outcomes supported employment proved to be the most cost-beneficial community-based services as a whole led to a higher cost
effectiveness especially for individuals with autism. Several studies reported findings specifically to individuals with autism who are employed at the third highest rate of any disability category in 2010. So autism that whole area is growing and wanting to work and I don't all the students that come to us
Speaker 13
13:38
want to be in the community, want to work, want to have a job, want to be in clubs, want to figure it out, and want to give in the ways that all of us do in
the community. They're not, they're just like anybody else. I don't want to sit here and say, oh, there are these people that are so awesome. They are awesome, by the way, but they just want
Madison Lewis
Unverified
14:06
to live lives like we've just taken for granted. And the data are very convincing as far as cost effectiveness, also outcomes, also business communities need to recognize that this is a sector that can really be beneficial. And I didn't even go on that side about that your revenue goes
up and that your employees stick around. And I mean, the evidence is clear on that side for businesses, which is going to be one of my areas that is a little bit of a barrier for us as far as the businesses. Some other national outcomes, employment service models that integrate into the community provide greater cost benefit than those which do not. So our students are all employed either on campus. We actually, if you ever watch anything on football, there's going to be a student that's on literally every video that's ever been made, and he's been employed for four years.
with the football team and he actually has been promoted twice over. So he's literally in every video. But those that are in the community are more cost effective than other kinds of areas. Worker benefits from approaches to engage them directly in real jobs like supported and customized employment compared to contrived pre-training. So if you put them in a job rather than let's try this scenario in the classroom.
If you actually put them into, say, an actual kitchen at McDonald's or hospitality or go let's work with the football team instead of us trying to practice in a contrived training, there's no comparison. We have to allow these individuals to get out there and to actually have jobs and real job training instead of contrived. Integrated services aimed directly at achieving employment
are more cost-efficient in terms of public investment from a taxpayer perspective. So it's not as though I don't see both sides of the coin, right? I understand that these programs on the upfront can look very expensive, but are they, in the end, more cost-neutral because of the support that you're having to provide them five years or ten years later and the answer to all of the national data would indicate that that is a resounding yes it's not as though I don't understand the economics of it our outcomes in
2023 2024 we had 916 goals and 81 over exceeded them and I'm not talking about like they went to class that's not a goal of ours we're talking about hard hitting you can actually observe it they're going towards their goals that they want to and in 2024 and 2025 we had 1937 and they met 92 percent of them so you can have high expectations for your students and they meet
those goals and actually exceed those goals our core beliefs are inclusivity habilitation and community that is completely wrapped in person-centered we don't write a goal that isn't for me that should have been for Shane right that's not how we do that after graduations our students live with families roommates are on their own this is completely up to the student this isn't like
something that we necessarily push but they're all actively living in or working towards I have one student that is actually saving up for their first house and so what's a little bungalow
Speaker 13
17:58
two bedroom one bath because anything else would be a little bit too much to I don't want to clean that much I'll keep it tidy 75% of our students who have graduated are working full-time that's huge we did not count those that are
Madison Lewis
Unverified
18:17
going for degrees our students also end up earning more than minimum
wage and that is a common common finding across not just us but nationally that our students can actually earn more and therefore what they pay in taxes they end up giving back to what they have taken out either in VR or some other type of service so they ended up paying that back in taxes to put these facts
Speaker 13
18:50
into perspective many people believe that students with IDD can only maintain
Madison Lewis
Unverified
18:55
but never grow that is not something that we are in the business of doing when students come to us we want them to we're in the we're in the business of them getting out there right and I'm not saying that they all can be independent on every level because every student's different but we're going to grow as much as we possibly can grow as much as they want to grow however they want to grow we have students from we're actually getting a new student from another state which is
going to be very exciting to one of our other students because we can have another pin because we have an actual map so our students come from all
Speaker 13
19:35
over the nation to come to our program how many of you had intentional goals of around 100 that you actively met for the year i know that a lot of times that by january 2nd my resolution has been so but they actively they want to be at college they want to have an opportunity they want to
achieve goals and I'm not saying that everybody is there's nobody perfect not
Madison Lewis
Unverified
20:02
not all of our students are perfect or always work harder because then that's glamorizing it but they do meet their goals our students volunteer go to work join clubs go to church and meet goals that like any other college student that has high aspirations what else would you want from a college student I'm not talking about what else do you want from a person with a disability I'm saying what else would you
want from a college student that's what you would want so some of the roadblocks that we have seen in our and I'm specifically talking about ipsy programs but specifically mine businesses businesses are always very nervous about wanting to hire someone because they think that there's a liability and we need to continue to partner every time that we partner with a business and we generally have had a lot more success with small business owners than we've
had with corporations as you all know but we need to get out there to work with businesses that it isn't a detriment and that they understand that there are benefits to that I understand that isn't necessarily for here, but it is a roadblock that we consistently are constantly going out and working on. The other kind of roadblock is education as far as transition plans. I happen to have a
very strong background in education and know that 13, 14 years old, we start working on a transition plan. And, you know, the kind of sadness that I have felt with working with students that are 14 or older and figuring out what services are potentially available without just signing them up and kind of hoping and praying, right, that they actually need to have more awareness. And we did do a transition symposium this past semester that we're hoping to continue.
We also need a clear path and direct payment for services. Most IPSEs across the nation are fee-based. You're not going to meet an Ipsi that isn't fee-based because how do you provide for all these wonderful things, right? Because we don't necessarily meet the requirements of complete VR or for Medicaid. Some of our students may be Medicaid, but we're not able to build those kind of avenues yet.
And so there needs to be much more of a clear and direct sources. And VR and Medicaid are options, but they need to be a little bit, there needs to be some clear pathways. There are silos that are difficult to navigate for families. You all are very aware of silos, whether it's education or if it's, you know, whatever it is. I mean, heck, Arkansas State can be a silo at times.
Anything can be a silo, right? It's like, how do you get in there? and so being able to build a bridge of like decision training of how do you how do you pick your life right when you have a disability becomes a little bit more difficult of how do I go and get the services that I need or who's going to be able to support me and some of those things so those are very difficult for families and students to kind of navigate and sometimes staff so we need collaboration across the board with all the non-profits and state agencies it's not a like
a one-person thing it's a systemic roadblock however I want to end on a beautiful video about our students and I'm going to minimize because I think I'm preaching to the choir when I talk about the roadblocks right this is not anything new that you have heard and I'm sorry the cold weather's gotten
Maa Louis
Unverified
24:14
my nose my name is Madison Lewis I am can
Speaker 22
24:18
you hear it okay because I'm hard of hearing so I didn't know
Speaker 32
24:24
if y'all could hear that let's do it what's up my favorite part of the hydration program is that I can spend time with my friends and do some homework and all those things. I love it. It's really fun because it's like a welcoming environment
Speaker 33
24:43
and everybody's all just nice and ready to help us when we need help. They've helped me get out of my comfort zone. So, yeah.
Speaker 35
24:54
Favorite thing is actually the connections I've built and the long-term friendships I've built, Like with Katrina, Abby, Dr. Johnson, shout out to them, though. I build a long-term relationship with them, so that's my favorite part.
Speaker 36
25:09
Yeah, I would probably say that it helps, like, meeting the new students and getting to know where they're from. It has helped me find a job. Yeah, so every week we, on Tuesdays, we meal prep, and then we go to the stores.
I've been doing this class called self-exploration with Katrina and they helped me like whenever I was stressed out they would calm me down like I would count back from 10 and it would help me. It has helped me grow through getting to know everyone and the teachers. Being from
Speaker 33
25:44
Dallas, Texas, it was kind of hard being
Speaker 40
25:47
in Arkansas for the first couple of times, and then I just got used to it. As time goes on, I'm like, okay, yeah, this is like home, second home now for me.
Probably that it was like my second family, like away
Speaker 33
26:02
from home. Whenever I got homesick, I would go over there and hang out with my friends. I've interned at Polish Paw, which is like a dog grooming facility, and then I did the Childhood Development Center across the street too. I did
Speaker 40
26:16
a public speaking class over Zoom with my buddy, Kelby, and it helped us be more open and be prepared to give big public speeches. And I gave my last presentation, we had to do a PowerPoint of a hard time for us, and I did that, and it was fun.
Speaker 33
26:32
And it's very good to practice and be open with public speaking, because it can be nerve-wracking sometimes, but now I'm just like,
Speaker 40
26:40
it's second nature. When I was first here, I just stayed in my room because that was the most comforting, that's just the most comfortable. but now I've been going to like off-campus dinners with my friends, been going to
Speaker 32
26:52
football games, and going to games and stuff with her. - I am Lana Evans from Cabot, Arkansas. The House Tradition Program helped me with my life goals.
Of getting a job and living independently, I learned some important life skills, like cooking, cleaning, money management, and using public transportation. go to shopping, and send the fans. My favorite things about the Howe Tradition Program are that it allowed me to attend college, living on campus, making lots of new friends, being in the IU Pai Solority. Most importantly, it taught me about inclusion.
Inclusion gives everyone a seat at the table. The Howe Tradition Program helped me learn how to set goals, to tell you my education. Today, I am a full-time student paraprofessional from the Cavett School District at the Jadda Fundament Center and Northside Elementary. I was like really scared. When I get not accepted into college, it makes me scared. When I got
accepted, I was like freaking me cry and I'm really happy that I could join the college life and sort of life, sort of life and everything. It helped me
Speaker 35
28:15
make the connections along the way and it helps me to also, you know, help me learn a way around my college life and stuff like that, because with kids with autism like me though, it's kind of difficult, but as I joined the How Transition program, it helped me a lot. Well, they just gave me that pathway to guidance to success, to get what I want, like for example,
They gave me the pathway to join the football team. I'm an equipment manager, by the way. And they gave me the pathway to join the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Corporation. So it's just the pathway they gave me. Well, my goal right now is just want to graduate college in four years. That's my goal. For the legislators
Speaker 50
29:07
in the room, you may recognize Lena Evans as the most popular member of the Evans family.
Speaker 16
29:15
That is Speaker Brian Evans' daughter. And so we're very proud
Speaker 51
29:18
of her. And I was honored to be on stage to be able to give her a diploma when she
Speaker 13
29:28
walked across. That's it. I want to thank you and
Speaker 28
29:31
open it up if there's any. I don't know if you have any
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
29:49
questions, but if you do. all right and I'd like to thank everybody that's in the our guests here I've got to thank everybody
for coming looks like representative Gardner has a question i'm sorry i
Representative Denise Garner
Unverified
30:07
was like who was talking the chair is tall i'm sorry about that um yeah so i'm back here i'm extremely excited about this program obviously and have worked with other organizations lifestyles and and empower at u of a i see um uca in in the room are there you talk about roadblocks
about the statewide campaign and education and getting employers on board. Is there a coalition that's working together to try to do that together? I understand that a lot of the employment needs to be close at home, maybe, but I think there are lots of opportunities that we could collaborate with each other to make some of these roadblocks go away for all of us. And so I'm just wondering if there is a coalition already. Are these programs new enough that that hasn't happened yet, or what can we do to help make that happen?
I think collaboration and having more people at the table always helps make better decisions for students and for the businesses as well. So anyway, that's my question, basically. Are there coalitions already? What can we do to help make that happen if they're not? I'm willing to help, however that can happen. That's very dangerous of you.
Madison Lewis
Unverified
31:37
collaborations, but I think they're in some ways a bit fragmented or that not everybody in the room actually knows about them. One of the things that is coming along for us is that we're actually building a state alliance for programs, and we can formally announce because it has been launched
that ASU Mountain Home and University of Arkansas Pine Bluff will be opening up two new programs. And so we are, because we'd like to see this happen more often, But again, a challenge of, you know, trying to make the program sustainable and employers are going to consistently be a challenge that I think that we are networking hard. We feel like the board that we're establishing for our agency, I think, will be helpful and people will be asked to help with that.
I'm looking at Jennifer because she has so many good contacts. But I would love to hear more because we're members of the Chamber of Commerce. We are members of several other organizations. I'm now a Rotarian. I'm literally everywhere trying to make connections within the business community. And I think we've had the most success this year, but we need to build some institutional
knowledge so that those things aren't we're not having to rebuild them and that's part of something that we're going to be doing in our state statewide is building institutional knowledge because if I leave then everything that I've ever done goes out the door with me and you know that with any non-profit or any literally state agency if somebody left who was a director or something the institutional knowledge walks out the door oftentimes and so it it some of them have closed
down or whatever it is and I want to build a stronger coalition across the state so be careful what you
Speaker 58
33:58
wish for because I would love to have some help all right representative representative Nassarenko
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
34:09
you have a question oh yay yes madam chair thank you very much
Representative Jason Nazarenko
Unverified
34:24
for recognizing me and thank you very much Dr. Johnson for this I'm over here too but I really appreciate this and very excited with the kind of on the lines with Representative Garner's question on the business side I'm I'm wondering, you know, have we looked at, you know, initiatives and ways to just get the word out? I've got some constituents in my area, good friends of mine, that were really excited. And they knew nothing about an autism task force. And so when I told them that, they were really excited.
They've been trying to watch these proceedings, you know, anytime they can. And I know, you know, we can help by just spreading the word. But is there kind of an initiative set up right now to help get the word out there of these programs that are available? Really excited to hear that Mountain Home is on board right now because we've got the Workforce Center right there. So great connection with a lot of employers. But also, like on mine, is how can we get the word out better to just on the user end, the user level?
Speaker 13
35:26
I think that there's going to have to be not only from a marketing but also a knowledge base, but language that businesses can get around, which I am not the person to be. I'm a psychologist, and that doesn't always read well. And so just because of the language I use, and Shane is laughing because he knows exactly what I'm talking about, but working with some other people that I think is going to be helpful that businesses can hear that language
and businesses can get behind that and that there be a statewide push for that. I think that there has to be somebody besides me or the people that I'm associating with as far as like the other Ipsy programs. They're so afraid of liability. They're so afraid to hire somebody because of liability. And I'm like, what are you worried about?
Because we'll go in and oftentimes they won't let a job coach in because they're afraid of the job coach liability issue there. So there are some legal issues that I think we need to
Madison Lewis
Unverified
36:41
get over the hurdle on so that businesses can be better informed about how they're making their decisions. Because right now, what we've experienced is
Speaker 13
36:51
they're making their decisions based on fear. Well, anything I can do, I
Representative Jason Nazarenko
Unverified
36:58
know Mr. Broadway mentioned I'm over there in that area.
And I know the other representative, Representative Painter, he'd be more than happy to help out. So let us know any way that we can, definitely in North Central area, help him get the word out. Because I really would love to see this and the folks that really could use this and benefit from this. So I appreciate all your hard work. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
37:33
All right, Dr. Scott, you have a question? Thank you, Madam Chair. Hi. Hi. Dr. Johnson, thank you so much for this presentation and for all the work you're doing. I'm so excited to take this back to clinic and tell all of my colleagues about it. Um, just a couple of more concrete practical questions. Yeah. I was thinking about, you know, when we're interacting with families and we're trying to spread the word perhaps on a, on a smaller scale than some of the folks in the room can do. But, um, you mentioned that your students, um, are admitted to the university and of
all the benefits. I'm wondering, are there eligibility, uh, admission eligibility requirements that families ought to be aware of specifically, um, high school diploma GED? No. Okay. so they
Speaker 13
38:17
bypass they do the application their requirements are for our program gotcha so they have to meet eligibility but not a high school unless they are going
Madison Lewis
Unverified
38:26
for a degree I understand
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
38:28
okay perfect and then I don't want to pin you down but is there a way you could give us a ballpark
about what kind I can't imagine how much all that wonderful support costs and it doesn't come from nowhere um do you have a ballpark about like what kind of financial cost families are looking at to participate so it is
Speaker 13
38:50
on our web now i can't specifically talk about tuition because that doesn't and ruin board but it is on our website um and i i only brought five binders but i'll leave them at the table and i can give you one um but then our fees are five thousand per semester
Madison Lewis
Unverified
39:07
And so what we're working on is working with nothing set in stone, so I want to
Speaker 13
39:16
be careful about what I'm saying, but making sure that, you know, if we have a job coach, because we're providing a job coach. So our staff are going out and, you know, there are ways to get that reimbursed and there are different ways and also making sure that the college is being paid for and also making sure that there are other services that we can tap into that we are in communication with some other agencies to be able to do that.
So because my dream is that the fees reduce or go away so that it's accessible to many people, and it has been done in other states, and anybody wants to know how it's been done in other states, I'm more than happy to send you that language, those laws,
Madison Lewis
Unverified
40:10
whether it's on voc rehab or whether it's Medicaid or anything.
of those other things there are states that are currently doing this um and not that we're not doing certain things and of course each state is very different so let me caveat that um but there
Speaker 13
40:27
are ways and i'm i think i'm speaking more about vr gotcha okay thank you so much you're welcome thank you okay
Representative John P. Carr
Unverified
40:44
representative car thank you madam chair just a question to what
degree of communication have y'all gone into public schools just to
make sure that those schools are aware of the how program that
Speaker 13
41:00
Arkansas State so um so much it's actually been it's been a lot over since 2019 we've actually gone to almost every opportunity that we've been asked to go to for recruitment and for just people to understand we have done massive recruiting efforts in other
areas we've also gone to IEP meetings we've also done the transition symposium We've also done monthly email blasts to the directory that's on the Department of Education website. Now sometimes that bounces or because the security is so high, we're not sure that it always goes through. Although our analytics look positive, the insights look positive that somebody's opened it. And so we have, we've done a lot.
I don't think we've done enough. so i say yes and i say we still have more to do
Representative John P. Carr
Unverified
41:58
follow up madam chair thank you uh and even to the co-ops even to because i was going to say your your your co-op lea directors and stuff they can help get the word out through that as well yes all right good deal thank you thank you madam chair thank you thank
Speaker 90
42:24
you I just wanted to say thank you for what you've done creating something like
this from scratch in the middle of COVID no less certainly a challenge I think perhaps the time that maybe a little bit why exposure wasn't what it might have been if it had been a different time agreed when you first started the program but uh just on behalf of my family and many clients I work with um you know this this need for something beyond high school is just so it's so important and has led so many people out of the state so I just thank you I thank ASU for uh for doing that and that's I just I just wanted to take that opportunity while I'm here for appreciating you
and everything you do in a
Speaker 13
43:05
really challenging environment I appreciate it and we were recognized that's why ASU and UAPB because we just I think some of you know that we received a U.S. Department of
Madison Lewis
Unverified
43:17
Education grant to establish that consortium for the next five years so we're trying to build that institutional knowledge so you'll start to see some things really growing instead of just a
state that everybody like u of a and empower and the 3d
Speaker 13
43:36
program at pulaski and all the others that there's a place for people to go so and
Speaker 16
43:46
the the legislature also uh i was just reminded back a couple years ago set up there was some monies set up for scholarships for these programs as well so thank you to the to the General
Speaker 93
44:09
you very much really appreciate you being here and all the work you've you've put towards this program it sounds amazing going back to kind of practical questions like if I'm back home and I'm trying to explain this program to families and friends that may have interest when I look at the hours like for the how curriculum um and i see six um you know three and whatnot what constitutes really a full semester how many hours is it like a typical college semester where it's like 12 hours is what they do like can you take me through what constitutes a semester what's the investment
as far as time goes and what is the extra makeup of classes potentially that they may be
Speaker 21
44:50
taking it depends on whether you're going to go by the federal definition if you're going
Speaker 13
44:56
to go by the housing definition or if you're going to go by the as far as a full-time student so typically it's either nine or
Madison Lewis
Unverified
45:04
twelve hours and the reason why we reduced it is so that they could start earlier on their vocational areas so if they wanted to earn a certificate or if they wanted
to go more towards taking classes that are more amenable to the area that they want to go into vocation that they could instead of having 51 hours and then go after something that you're interested in it seemed a little bit overwhelming and so as you're as you go into apartments it's six hours and so often our students that are third and fourth year because they are working more hours they're working more like 20 to 25 they may be taking six or nine hours
but typically i mean a lot of our students i would say half and half half take around
Speaker 28
45:56
nine to 12 and then we have another half that are taking between 12 and 18. okay any other college student could
Speaker 93
46:07
i have a follow-up to that to get through the entire program is there a set number of hours they need to achieve or is it more or less just whatever classes are in the goal plan that they want to achieve whatever classes are in
Madison Lewis
Unverified
46:19
the goal plan and that's why we have a little bit more flexibility of it being a two-year or three year or four-year because a certificate may take you a little bit longer or you might be able to achieve it sooner most of the Ipsy programs around the nation are either a two or they are four and look some college students are six to get a degree so I we wanted to get away from the rigidness of
you know that you had to be there if you've met all your goals at two years then you can then you're going and we start transitioning you through that process and through our coordinator who is a licensed social worker um and if it's your three if it's
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
47:14
have our last question from dr jeff adams thank you for
Speaker 99
47:18
your presentation and thank you madam chair uh jeff adams office of special
education. And, um, so I, hello, I noticed, uh, in one of your roadblocks, you mentioned that, uh, transition planning, uh, K-12 in particular, it's a, um, area of data that we're working on in the office of special ed, um, making sure that our IEPs are calibrated in a way that, um, students have meaningful outcomes post-secondary. And, um, I am curious about, um, if you're connecting with Arkansas Transition Services, the technical assistance arm from the Office
of Special Ed in the program, I know that they are constantly looking for ways to get out of those silos that you mentioned, and I'm appreciative that you mentioned that because I think it's one of the biggest challenges that we face. I'm also appreciative of how the program focuses on high expectations and people rise to high expectations when they are given opportunities. And so that's what I wanted to highlight with with the transition plans.
I'm curious if you just speak to what you're seeing. Maybe you said you've gone to some IEP meetings and what you would suggest that we guide schools toward as they develop these plans for students that would lend themselves to be ready for HAL program or the like. That
Speaker 13
48:56
is such a loaded question because the answer, just like almost all the questions today, is the answer is not easy. It's complicated.
And I've been in education for 30 years, and I wanted to calculate to make sure that was correct. We've done a better job just overall with transition planning, and I think moving towards that. But I do think, and I have worked
Madison Lewis
Unverified
49:24
with the transition arm because of the transition symposium that we just put on in Little Rock, they were there. And so we actively wanted them to come. Bonnie was a part of that. We want to continue to do that because we see that as a real barrier when we're talking about when I'm seeing the flip side of maybe some programs that are either an ADDT or when I'm talking to voc rehab of like the schools don't really know what services are potentially available.
and so the way I was trained back in the very early late 80s early 90s was very person-centered and it's a luxury that sometimes is hard to find in special education because man have I had a lot of number of IEPs on my caseload but if we're either doing map or path that we're looking forward and we're talking about where do we want to go
and that those goals are very meaningful instead of we're just going to look to see, you know, have you looked to see if you're going to go to college. What colleges did you look at? And that seems to be a transition goal. I mean, that can be a start of a transition goal, but it needs to be more meaningful than that. Plus the fact that we are pushing and other universities are pushing this as well. We have PAC preview, but nobody from special education comes to PAC preview. I don't understand why students in special education aren't coming because they should be coming like any other student.
Instead of having some specialized, like they can come see us because we're at every PAC preview. So why aren't we including everybody to go to see the college? Because we have a gazillion PAC previews. Let me just tell you, like once a month, every Saturday, I'm eating up with PAC previews. But that's a way in which we're also more than happy to go out to the schools but obviously we're we're limited there's also a ton of videos but i do think part of that is one making sure that you have people that are gonna because it's a cliff when you get out of
high school it's just a cliff and we need to have people at the table that are going to help not have the cliff fall off and making sure that we have representatives or making sure that we're doing personalized planning i'm not saying that it doesn't happen i'm just saying like in general because I would never do that. Educators work very hard, just like everybody else does. But that would be what I would hope. It's a very complicated issue.
Speaker 13
52:12
But that's kind of the general census of what I'm seeing across the board is that what I'm hearing from special educators is that people aren't coming to the table, and yet on the reverse side, people are saying we're not being asked to come to the table. So there's a communication barrier somewhere there that everybody wants to be at the table, but we're not getting anybody at the table. So why? Because you all want them there, and they want to be there. All right.
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
52:42
Well, thank you for that wonderful presentation. I'm sorry. I've been talking about this for hours. You're fine. That's why we're here. We're here to find solutions. So this probably won't be your last time here. also I'd like to thank Dr. Johnson and Shane Broadway for your wonderful presentation and I would like to know more about your state alliance that you mentioned earlier I think there's room that we can put our heads together and figure out how we can make these programs more
Speaker 13
53:13
so people more aware of what's going on so we will be developing a website and we will be developing institutional knowledge um I've had the good fortune of working with some of the people in the room to really help me with my institutional knowledge and I'm very thankful for that um so that that doesn't go away if somebody changes positions but once we have that because we just started um and we actually
Madison Lewis
Unverified
53:40
just got one of our first new employees so UAPB has their own new program coordinator which I'm
very excited about that too and FY it is um the only HCB yes in the entire nation yeah and so I'm very excited to have that here in Arkansas um and so anyway but I will send you more information on the consortium yes if that's what you want yes ma'am okay and then I have a few binders not obviously this many but you can pick them up and
Speaker 13
54:16
if you want any additional materials my email
Kristen has Kristen's email and I'd be more than happy to send you whatever all
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
54:27
right thank you very much thank you so much all right next on the agenda we have Dr. Debbie Daly interim dean for College of Education and University of Central Arkansas, and we also have Jeremy Gillum, Director of Governmental Affairs. If you could come up. Thank you.
Speaker 111
54:56
Hi, I am Debbie Daly from the University of Central Arkansas. I'm the Interim Dean of the college of education and before I get started I want to bring it up okay before I get started I want to say wow to Arkansas State and that program as a native Arkansan and a graduate of Arkansas State I'm very impressed with what they've done my presentation is much shorter we are just in the infancy stages of creating something for our kids that need low sensory environments and so
I'm going to tell you a little bit about that once I find it oh there
Jeremy Gillam
Unverified
55:46
it is and i am not a pc person so excuse me dr daly before you
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
55:52
introduce yourself can i have um jeremy gillam introduce himself please i'm sorry jeremy my name is jeremy gillam
Jeremy Gillam
Unverified
55:59
i'm the director of government affairs and external relations at uca and a former member of the
General Assembly, and so it is nice to be back in Big Mac B, so I appreciate the invitation. Thank you,
Speaker 111
56:16
Madam Chair. Thank you. Thank you, Jeremy. Jeremy called me over holiday break and said, would you do something on the Project Ascend? And I said, well, of course I will. I'm happy to share this. So a few years ago, we started thinking about what we could do to help support our neurodiverse learners and so I'm really I'm honestly this is not my baby but I'm here to
tell you about it and I was involved in some of the planning process but we you know at UCA we have a program called living learning communities and it's every academic college has a it's a community basically where majors from those in that academic field can live together in certain dormitories they do activities together they're not required to live in that area in that like the education we live in Hughes Hall they're not required to live there but it's for them if they
want to start that community early and within the education one it's called RISE we have a sub I guess we call it a sub living learning community and it's the Project Ascend so and I have links if you want to go back and look at this where it's on our website but the program overview we just launched it in 2000 in the fall of 2025 it's housed in the residence and service and education in hughes hall and it's designed to support neurodiverse students through inclusive low
sensory community-based programming and we emphasize access connectiveness and voluntary participation so we're very different from what asu presented we are more this is more focused on the community building as opposed to actual degree plans or remediation we do have a transition plan for students that need remedial help but this is different even though one of the ladies that teaches in our transition plan is the coordinator of this program and she's the one that
brought it to our attention that we needed something like this. So our goals are to increase student participation. We're not very popular this first year and we're hoping we can grow. Support retention for these at-risk student populations because we know they do need sometimes they need remedial help but sometimes they just need environments that are supportive of their needs. We want to strengthen their sense of belonging and community and we want expand their academic and transition reports. One faculty member that I
mentioned is Lisa Christman and she serves as the AC and academic coordinator and she has expertise in neurodiversity and student support. The coordinator is responsible for program development partnerships and student programming. So in throughout the university we have some sensory friendly spaces but within In Hughes Hall, we have a designated block of rooms that are conducive to learners, neurodiverse learners.
They have an option to live there. We did not have any this year that chose to live in that environment, but it was brand new, just launching in fall 2025. So we hope we can grow that. How do we know? Again, this is self-identification. We do not require them to submit a diagnosis or anything like this. This is focused on community building. And they fill out an interest form if they want to do this with a self-identify interest in ASCEND,
and it's housed on the Living Learning Community's website. We allow students to receive information and support without any formal disclosure. And we support connection to other programs, such as we have an Autism and Neurodiversity Alliance called ANA within the Transition Department. Activities and participations,
Speaker 121
1:00:22
again, focused on low-pressure community building. So our intentions were to do
Speaker 111
1:00:27
something every month, and we did something in August, September, and October.
And when we do back-to-school at UCA, we have lunch on the lawn. It's a big event. We have dancing, partying, you know, it's a lot of fun. And that can be overwhelming for our neurodiverse students. So we have created a little lounge for them to go into so that they can have lunch with their peers. And it's open to anybody, but it's for those students that really need that distraction-free environment
where they can feel comfortable and they
Speaker 123
1:01:06
can build their community, but they may not want to be on the lawn with all the noise. In September,
Speaker 111
1:01:14
they did just a terracotta pot painting. So seven students came, and half of them identified as neurodiverse. It's open to everybody, but we're hoping that our neurodiverse students come. And so they painted some pots. And then in October, they planted root clippings in those pots. And so I'll show you a picture.
So this is what they did, and that was the flyer that was sent out. So again, this is in its infancy. we're just starting. We're open to ideas of how we can better build these communities for our students. What are we doing? We advertise the events through the flyers in Hughes Hall and Old Main Hall, which is where our transition classes are. And we also have the targeted email communications for those who have expressed interest. And again, a continued emphasis on opt-in
participation. We have similar low sensory social events planned for this year. The people planning them did not have specifics at this time. Hopefully we'll have monthly gatherings and online collaboration with our campus partners. So some things that we look to for the future that we think are important. We want structured break opportunities during study day and finals week at uca we have one day that's designated for they're not supposed to have classes or anything
else it's their study day and so we want to create something for our neurodiverse students there that can support them we want to continue refining housing options maybe not just focus on hughes hall but maybe other areas because not all not all neurodiverse students are going to be in education or service oriented professions they may be in the college of business they may be in the college of language and so forth we also think it's important we're proposing to have
them come earlier have an earlier arrival and and so they can get settled before all the students come for move-in day and we're using the participation data to guide continuous improvement so I've got a last slide are the people that are actually in charge of this I'm happy to answer any questions, but Dr. Nadia Esslinger, she's the Director of the Living Learning Communities, and Dr. Patricia Smith, who is the Dean of the Honors College, also is part of the Learning
Communities and specifically at Project Ascend. But I'm happy to take any questions or ideas that you have for us. Again, we're in our emphasis stage. We're wanting to do more. Anything that we can do to support our students thank
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
1:04:00
you for the presentation I have a question for you if you were to recruit students to your program how would you do that is it so from what I what I get from the presentation is that people self they don't they self-identify yes so you don't
have a structured program per se that's what it sounds like that's
correct so if I have neuro if If I'm neurodivergent, I choose to come and sit in
the dorm or the space that's dedicated for
Speaker 111
1:04:37
that? Yes. So it's advertised these low sensory environments. And with the interest form, if they fill out the interest form, we can email them more information. Or we talk to them in the transition courses.
Those are in the transition courses. but we try not to do anything that would place a stigma on anyone, but to know that it's open to everybody. And if we advertise it as low sensory, then we hope we get more students involved.
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
1:05:06
So that's my second question. How many students participated this past year? I think, I
Speaker 121
1:05:11
believe it said, on one occasion, I'm going to go backwards if I can. Here. Thank you. Let's see.
Speaker 111
1:05:24
sorry well there it is um the august on the lunch and learn there are excuse me the um lunch on the lawn there were four students and that was august and then we had seven students in september and three returning participants in october so we we've got to do better about getting
Speaker 122
1:05:50
the word out so that they can take part in these activities.
Jeremy Gillam
Unverified
1:05:56
Well, Madam Chair, one thing that will occur as time moves on, since we've only just started this in the fall, our admissions team are going to be able to integrate this into more of the campus tours and more of just their awareness. And then the orientation days that we have throughout the summer and even in the spring when you have the junior class special day in which we invite all the juniors in the state to come.
Those kind of events, now that we've had this up and rolling, those team members that are going to be involved in those events are going to be able to have discussions, and they're going to be able to work it into their normal tours, not in a way that, as the deans said, places any kind of stigma on anybody, but will be able to create awareness. And so they're embedding that in, and it's going to be a part of things moving forward. So I do believe that if we were to fast forward a year from now,
the participation rates will have increased exponentially just due to awareness and our ability on campus to do a better job of getting that information out. All
Speaker 59
1:07:13
right, I have several questions. let's see jd you ready thank you very
Speaker 93
1:07:22
much just took uh like i'm trying to understand a little bit more of the activities and participation when you mention just the number of students that have participated is the
the goal and the idea to get to like a weekly calendar of like maybe repetitive events indoor and outdoors to where it's things that people just start getting used to and it's like i'm gonna go do that on thursdays community gardens things like that like what's what are the possibilities
Speaker 111
1:07:50
that are i think that would be an excellent goal to do something weekly i don't know if that's possible yet uh we're starting monthly and then hopefully we can the more participation maybe we can do bi-weekly and eventually weekly um our living learning
communities do activities if i take them as a whole like rise they do something every month So we're trying to pattern it on that, but we're also hoping, we're doing these activities so that they can create these communities, but we're hoping that they will also find friends, and so that they can, smaller group activities, so they can
Speaker 123
1:08:28
find somebody, we want them to feel like they belong, and they can find, you know, I always say something like, I used to be a high school teacher for 20 years,
and I was like, every kid needs some group. And so you may have the band kids, you may have the athletes, and as long as they have somebody, then it helps them be more successful. Thank you. I have a
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
1:08:56
question now. How do you measure, or how will you measure the success of the program? Well, we
Speaker 123
1:09:05
can go quantitatively and look at the number of participants.
We can also look at how well they
Speaker 126
1:09:14
finish, do they finish, do they stay
Speaker 111
1:09:20
at UCA? Because I know if they go for one year, and I don't have the statistics on it, but if they go for one year and they do not have that community, they do not find their place, then this is all students, then the retention is not as good. And that's what brought us to do the living learning communities.
uh was to increase retention we focus a lot on retention at uca so retention would be the number one thing are they continuing okay and i have one more question
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
1:09:50
sure um so a state they mentioned some of the roadblocks what are some of the roadblocks you see in this program well i think getting the word out
Speaker 141
1:10:00
we've got to do a better job of getting the word out and you
Jeremy Gillam
Unverified
1:10:04
know i i think of This, even as an
Speaker 111
1:10:08
adult, sometimes, do I want to go out and go to this party, or do I want to stay home?
Do I want to stay in my room? And students face that as well, especially our neurodivergent. They're comfortable in their room sometimes, and they don't want to get out. So getting them involved is not as easy as just advertising it to them. It's showing that they need this, and how can you convince those students to get out? I know I was an introvert when I was in college. I wouldn't even go into the cafeteria, and I never went to the cafeteria unless I had someone.
I never went because I know I didn't have anybody to go with me. So having them overcome that first step, that fear, and how we get there, I'm not
Jeremy Gillam
Unverified
1:11:02
for sure. All right. All right, we have. Madam Chair, if I might just add one thing to that, too. One thing that I've been extremely impressed with UCA in my time there is the interaction from a student success point of view with our advisors and their team and support staff.
I think that's one other way that we'll be able to measure this, too, is through those communications. it's not necessarily quantitative uh or even qualitative I mean but but it's it's a way that we can gauge their engagement and feelings is just through those conversations and being able to send that information back into the ascend program and so I think that uh that's one nuance um that I think we'll be able to uh to help in the measurement of of whether or not the program
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
1:11:50
is a successor as well as well all right look like we have one
Representative John P. Carr
Unverified
1:12:01
last question and that's from representative joey carr thank you madam chair well i commend both institutions of course it makes me proud because i got my bachelor's degree from uca my master's from asu and another thing ironically you might be able to tap in both cities you have the human development center Jonesboro and Conway so there may be some resources there that can assist you my question is have you
had a chance to visit with ASU and to prevent reinventing the wheel kind of seeing what they've gone through and then you can use that to maybe streamline your process of getting this initiated but I would say Arch Ford Co-op they will help you get word out because a lot of schools depend on that co-op in Plumberville and that'll help you spread the word yes I'm glad you gave
Speaker 111
1:12:46
a shout out to Arch Ford they're the best we work with them closely in the College of Education and I'm
not for sure if they've reached out to ASU but I think they should and I'm going to take that information back to my colleagues and say hey they're doing great stuff at Arkansas State and I don't know that we can go to that extent right now but we can take some of their ideas I I hope they don't mind.
Representative John P. Carr
Unverified
1:13:11
If they do, you can come talk to me. We'll get it straightened out. Okay, thank you. Thank you for your work, and I commend you for another version of education. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right.
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
1:13:23
So if we don't have any more questions, I'm going to ask my co-chair, Senator Boyd, if he has anything to say or
Speaker 150
1:13:32
add. Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate both universities
Senator Justin Boyd
Unverified
1:13:34
for being here. I appreciate what you're doing to help the citizens of Arkansas and other
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
1:13:42
states too so thank you. And one last thing I want to thank everybody this has been a very robust conversation again I have a son who's 17 so this is really timely for me to kind of
figure out these things and I see you back there and this is not going to be our last conversation one of the reasons why we have this task force is to make these systems more accessible for people with autism so please come back I'm sure we'll have you back again I'm sure there will be some more discussion and I want to thank all the guests in the audience for being here I have somebody from Fort Smith with Spindle, she's here
thank you for coming and we'll see you at the next meeting and the task force is adjourned. Thank you.
Agenda
A. Call to Order
B. Consideration of a Motion to Approve November 17, 2025, Meeting Minutes [Exhibit B]
C. Presentation on Arkansas State University’s HOWL and ATLAS Transition Programs [Exhibit C]
D. Presentation on University of Central Arkansas’s ASCEND Program [Exhibit D]
E. Other Business
F. Adjournment
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — TASK FORCE ON AUTISM, Jan 13, 2026 | Agenda | 1 | Official source ↗ |
| Exhibit B - November 17 2025 Meeting Minutes_ | Exhibit | 1 | Official source ↗ |
| Exhibit C - HOWL and ATLAS Programs | Exhibit | 14 | Official source ↗ |
| Exhibit D - ASCEND presentation | Exhibit | 12 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
Speaker 9
Kristen Johnson
Unverified
Speaker 13
Madison Lewis
Unverified
Speaker 16
Maa Louis
Unverified
Speaker 22
Speaker 32
Speaker 33
Speaker 35
Speaker 36
Speaker 40
Speaker 50
Speaker 51
Speaker 28
Representative Denise Garner
Unverified
Speaker 58
Representative Jason Nazarenko
Unverified
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
Representative John P. Carr
Unverified
Speaker 90
Speaker 93
Speaker 21
Speaker 26
Speaker 99
Speaker 111
Jeremy Gillam
Unverified
Speaker 121
Speaker 123
Speaker 122
Speaker 59
Speaker 126
Speaker 141
Speaker 150
Senator Justin Boyd
Unverified