A Child Psychologist Helps Parents and Teachers Work Together for Kids with Autism

Gazi Azad was working as a lead teacher at Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital’s Early Childhood Partial Hospitalization Program in Los Angeles, CA, when she first saw the power of teachers and parents working in tandem to support preschoolers with autism. A coordinated approach with matching visual aids gave these preschoolers the continuity and alignment they needed in transitioning between home and school and vice versa. “The parents were targeting the same concerns and using the same strategies, and their children just did better,” says Azad, now an assistant professor in the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia Mailman. “I wondered if we could take that idea and bring it to scale.”

That was 2006, and Azad was fresh from earning her bachelor’s in psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Over the subsequent decade, Azad earned a PhD, became a Nationally Certified School Psychologist, and obtained licensure as a clinical psychologist. “We know what works in autism, but kids can’t access these evidence-based interventions,” says Azad, who focused her post-doctoral training on implementation science. Together with her research partners—including public school systems in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City—she developed Partners in School, an implementation package designed to align evidence-based practices across home and school for children with autism. Says Azad: “We’re making sure teachers are trained to use these strategies in their everyday practices and that parents are doing the exact same things at home so we can double the dosage, intensity, and more importantly, the impact.” 

You were an assistant professor in Columbia’s Department of Psychiatry from 2020 to 2024. What compelled you to join the public health faculty?

Azad: I partner with public schools, which are one of the largest public health-serving institutions for children, and my work tries to get evidence-based practices into the real world, so they have public health impacts. Even when I was in more clinically oriented departments, I have always thought of the children I was helping in their larger context: family, school, neighborhood, community. It was a natural fit to land in public health.

How did your focus on training for teachers and parents emerge?

Azad: Teachers receive very little training about how to implement evidence-based practices, and parents get very little training in how to use these practices in everyday life, and both parties are often stretched thin. I wanted to help parents and teachers implement what clinicians and scientists know works - the evidence-based practices – so children could assess interventions in the places (home/school) that they spend most of their time. 

Why did you focus your post-doctoral studies on implementation science?

Azad: I was really frustrated when I finished my PhD. I learned about all the interventions that we have to support children with autism, but people were not using them in the real world. My research team aims to close the research-to-practice gap by moving interventions into the community. 

How does alignment across home and school help kids? 

Azad: My research agenda goes back to that original observation I made—if parents and teachers work together, we can double the impact of interventions and expedite positive outcomes for children. I’ve investigated how to promote effective communication among parents and teachers, and strategies to align evidence-based practices across home and school. 

What do those practices look like?

Azad: A lot of kids with autism want to do things a certain way and have a hard time transitioning between home and school, especially when things are done differently. We also know that kids respond very well to visuals. So, we give parents and teachers a preventive approach: visual schedules—laminated, Velcro-mounted images. We take the unpredictability out and impose structure—kids know what’s happening – it becomes a routine. That’s especially important at home, which is naturally less structured. When the picture for the schedule looks exactly the same at home and school, kids respond very well. That preventive approach can reduce meltdowns. 

What if things go sideways? What do reactive interventions look like?

Azad: We start by asking why kids are engaging in challenging behaviors. Are they frustrated because they can’t communicate? Are they seeking attention? Do they have sensory needs that aren’t met? What’s the function of the behavior? The parent, teacher, and I collaborate to provide the child with more effective coping mechanisms that address the function of the behavior. For example, if a child is pinching, we may give them sensory items to squeeze—to keep their hands busy. We help parents and teachers think of more effective coping mechanisms. 

You’re also studying educational and occupational opportunities for Latina women with learning and attentional disorders. What are you looking at?  

Azad: A colleague connected me to an organization that works with the community of people with learning and thinking differences. We realized that there is a lack of research on Latina women aged 18 to 25 years old and some of the challenges they face in post-secondary education and employment. We want to understand their life experiences, so we conduct focus groups where people talk about the intersectionality of it all—what gets in the way, what facilitates their success. My job is to untangle the effects of language, immigration status, family support, attention, and learning differences. The ultimate goal is to design an intervention that meets the needs of this group and all the identities they have.

What do you appreciate about teaching in Columbia Mailman’s accelerated online MPH program?

Azad: The class I teach is on implementation science in practice. Students in the online program are professionals—established physicians, people in industry or research—who experience real-world implementation challenges. It’s really nice taking class assignments and articles that we’re reading and applying them to real-world challenges, working together to problem solve.