Teacher Help Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorder (TeacherHelp Trial)

Teachers are increasingly faced with classrooms of students whose needs require support far beyond what traditional teacher-training programs prepare educators to provide. The presence of students with greater challenges in classrooms is due in part to the move to a full inclusion model of education and also to the rising epidemic of mental health disorders in youth. Mental health problems affect up to one million Canadian youth and their families. However, few of these individuals (~20%) receive the support they need (Kirby, 2013; Kutcher & McLuckie, 2013). The Teacher Help research team along with industry partner, Velsoft, and key knowledge user, Nova Scotia Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, will address this barrier by developing, evaluating, and commercializing a sustainable eHealth resource for teachers. Teacher Help is an online program that assists teachers in providing evidence-based interventions to students in grades 1-12 with mental health disorders in the classroom. The program allows teachers in a typical classroom setting to access information and expert-coach and peer support when they need it, so they can intervene early in order to reduce the negative consequences of mental health disorders in youth. Currently three modules (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder [ADHD], Autism Spectrum Disorder [ASD], and Learning Disabilities [LD]) are at different stages in the innovation pipeline. The investigators will test whether teachers make good use of this program and whether it is effective in improving mental health outcomes among children and youth both at school and at home. The investigators will also study whether the program changes teacher's attitudes toward children and youth with these disorders. The investigators will provide information to the Department of Education on how to use this program. This approach will help ensure that the program will continue after the research study ends. To the Teacher Help team's knowledge Teacher Help is the first and only research-validated eHealth program directly targeting teachers to help them intervene with children and youth who have mental health disorders, thus allowing Canada to take a lead in eHealth as applied to a school context.