AFIRM for Paraeducators is funded by the U.S. Department of Education; current funding is for $799,999 from 2023-2025.
Autism Focused Intervention Resources and Modules (AFIRM), which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, offers free online learning tools designed to help educators, caregivers, and professionals to effectively support individuals on the autism spectrum from birth to 22 years of age. AFIRM for Paraeducators is a professional development program designed to help paraeducators effectively support students on the autism spectrum. And AFIRM for Toddlers is a set of training modules developed in collaboration with the FPG's Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center to support early interventionists.
395,700+ AFIRM users worldwide in 203 countries (including all US states and territories)
86,800+ paraeducators, 80,300+ special education teachers, 74,700+ university students, and 23,200+ general ed teachers have accessed AFIRM more than 73 million times
3.8 million + AFIRM resources downloaded
Overall, AFIRM users find the modules to be of high-quality, and useful and relevant to their work with learners on the spectrum, earning 1.2 million+ certificates and more than 2.85 million professional development hours (Sam et al., 2019)
AFIRM modules and resources have been translated into Mandarin, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, Korean, and Turkish
It is estimated 1 in 36 children in the U.S. are on the spectrum (Maenner et al., 2023).
Is it estimated that 1 in 100 children worldwide are on the spectrum (Zeidan et al., 2022).
