Date
Thursday, October 15, 2026
Time
11:00 AM - 11:50 AM
Location Name
RL 24
Name
Beyond Inclusion: Innovating Alongside Teachers in an Enhanced Autism Center
Description
EdTech moves fast. Our most vulnerable learners get left behind.
This session shares what happened when one tech coach spent a year working alongside five Enhanced Autism Center teachers — not training them, but building alongside them. Using AI as a thought partner and the Essential 5 Cs as a structured framework, we built real teacher capacity in one of the most specialized settings in a school.
The work revealed an "accessibility gap" — the friction between emerging technology and the educators who need it most but are least supported to use it. Participants examine that gap, explore coaching moves that built genuine teacher capacity, and apply a replicable audit tool to their own context.
This isn't a special education session. It's a coaching session — about what happens when we stop leaving the hardest rooms out of the innovation conversation.
Leave with a framework, an audit tool, and a new definition of what "Forward and Beyond" can mean for every learner.
Speakers
Session Type
Traditional Workshop
Track
Assistive Technology/Inclusive Tech
Secondary Track
Equity and Inclusion
Primary Audience
Elementary School
Secondary Audience
Leaders
Fall Conference Strands
Inspire
MA DLCS Strands
Computing and Society, Digital Tools and Collaboration