Online Professional Development
Summer/Fall 2026
Online Intro to Adaptive Music Education
This six-hour online course is for in-service general music teachers who are looking for philosophy, language, tools, and activities to support their work with students with disabilities including autism.
Music Therapist Jen Kass (MA, MT-BC) and Medley Director Jessica Corwin will give participants tools to bring to their classrooms for accommodation, meaningful inclusion, joyful music-making, and social connection. Topics will include anti-ableist language, neurodivergence-affirming practices, current research on autism, learning differences and corresponding teaching strategies, and the imperative of listening to neurodivergent voices.
Participants will engage in a variety of sample classroom activities that can be replicated in their own classrooms. This course will provide notation, lyrics, chords, and ready-to-print supporting choice boards and visuals for these activities.
This course may be completed asynchronously by viewing recorded class meetings and completing a short final reflection.
July 20th-22nd, 2026, 1-3 pm Eastern Time.
Tuition $175. Click here to register.
Adaptive Music Independent Study
This course consists primarily of independent study work to help teachers reach 10- and 15-hour PDP requirements for their license renewal while deepening their understanding of adaptive music education pedagogy and meeting the needs of students who receive Special Education services. Completion of Intro to Adaptive Music Education for 5 or 6 professional hours is a prerequisite; those hours can be bundled with this independent study to apply to licensure requirements.
Following a Universal Design for Learning model, participants will consider a menu of project options, pick one that suits their interests and needs, complete the project, and present their learning to classmates at a culminating online session. Possible projects include planning and reflecting on lessons for students with high support needs, reading and reflecting on a book about adaptive music education, reading/watching first person perspectives about disability in any of a variety of formats and reflecting on them, and planning curriculum for your classroom.
Participants will maintain a log of hours spent on this project. Time spent in the welcoming and concluding online meetings count toward the total hours. At the conclusion of this course, professional hours will be awarded according to each participant’s time log, and bundled with the professional hours from Intro to Adaptive Music Education to become 15 PDPs in Special Education. Facilitated by the ACCEPT Collaborative in Natick, Massachusetts. One optional graduate credit through Worcester State University for an additional fee.