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Georgia Gwinnett College’s (GGC) School of Education has introduced an autism endorsement program for licensed teachers and other certified professionals. An autism endorsement program increases one’s knowledge in the area of teaching students with autism spectrum disorders. The program consists of nine hours of training that will be delivered online. GGC is one of nine USG institutions offering the Autism endorsement.

Dr. Matthew Boggan, professor of special education at GGC, said the program was created to respond to an increase in the number of students with autism in Gwinnett County K-12 schools.

“Working closely with Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS), we learned there has been a rapid rise in students enrolling in GCPS who have autism – an increase of about 1,400 students with autism from 2013 to 2020, according to the school systems data,” he said. “Knowing that these numbers were rising at a fast pace in the local area and the emergent need for expanded teacher training, we modified our curriculum to include more training in autism for GCPS and other Georgia school districts.”

Boggan said GGC students who graduate with a Bachelor of Science in special education will earn both a special education teaching license in the general curriculum, along with the autism endorsement, which was approved by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission. He said the standalone nine-hour autism endorsement program for licensed educators and other certified professionals will be available in the summer.

Those who want to learn more about the program should email @email.