Students with autism display challenges in social communication and often require specialized instruction to learn social skills. Since social norms are an element of culture, educators must assess and select skills to teach through a cultural lens; therefore, Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) is an appropriate instructional strategy. There is a gap in the research on the effectiveness of CRT, including additional considerations for this population. To answer the question of how to develop and implement effective CRT strategies and curricula specific to students with autism to improve social skills and understanding of their and others' cultures, an action research methodology was implemented. A modified lesson study was conducted with three special education teachers. Participants engaged in training and reading seminal articles related to CRT and compassionate care. Then, they collaboratively created a lesson plan, implemented it, reflected on their own implementation and student performance, then collaborated to adjust lesson elements. This cycle was repeated a second time before finalizing a lesson blueprint that was editable for use by other special educators. Results indicated that human work (motivation, collaboration, and self-reflection) and elements of the lesson study (group norms, guiding literature, and meeting structure) supported the development of special educators' culturally responsive pedagogy, which in turn influenced student demonstration of targeted skills. These findings build empirical evidence for how to implement CRT for students with autism and how to train special educators to employ human work toward developing their own culturally responsive pedagogy that benefits all students. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]