eng Science and Education Publishing American Journal of Educational Research 2327-6150 2017-02-25 5 2 225 230 10.12691/education-5-2-19 EDUCATION20175219 article Freddie W. Litton littonf@uhv.edu 1 Anthony R. Rotatori 2 Rita Coombs-Richardson 3 Rachel Martinez 4 Professor of Special Education and Dean, University of Houston- Victoria, Texas, USA Professor of Psychology, St. Xavier University, Chicago, Ill., USA Associate Professor of Educational Leadership, University of Houston- Victoria, Texas USA Associate Professor of Special Education and Associate Dean, University of Houston-Victoria, Texas, USA This paper describes and documents the need for an increase in both the quantity and quality of training programs for one of the rapidly expanding areas of special education - children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Challenges and barriers to teacher preparation efforts are described along with program research based strategies and emerging concepts that should be included in a teacher preparation program in the area of Autism Spectrum Disorders. http://pubs.sciepub.com/education/5/2/19/education-5-2-19.pdf Autism Spectrum Disorders teacher training teacher competencies mentoring and induction