Conference Archive 2014

Three plaintiffs in Miami, Florida, who had children with autism, challenged a ruling by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) that applied behavior analysis (ABA) was experimental and AHCA refused to fund behavioral treatment. The case was taken by a team of attorneys for Florida Legal Services, and the presenter was contacted to serve as an expert witness and testified in this federal case. The witness critiqued the state’s method of reviewing the plaintiffs’ request for treatment, and AHCA’s documents, and presented the case for ABA as a proven, evidence-based method of treatment. The presenter will describe the evidence that was used against ABA and the scientific data that was presented to the federal judge in rebuttal. The blow-by-blow account of the case will be presented in detail, including a description of the misrepresentations of our field and the role that the journal peer-review process and meta-analysis played in the final judgment in the case.

This presentation will focus on recent significant findings and National Institutes of Health activities in autism research.

Presentation will include a brief overview of evidence-based interventions for students with autism. Since most of that evidence suggests the importance of applied behavior analysis (ABA) in guiding interventions for individuals with autism, many sessions at the National Autism Conference focus on ABA. During this session, the basic principles of ABA will be presented for beginners and those who want a review of those principles. This session is appropriate for parents and educators. The content of this session will prepare attendees to get the most out of this year’s conference. Information presented will be supported by videos of ABA-based interventions. Additionally, the session will include a brief review of how data may be presented in the various ABA-based sessions occurring at the conference.

There are more than 100,000 educational apps available in the iTunes and Google Play apps stores and this number continues to grow every day. The use of mobile devices has a great deal of promise for positively impacting student learning outcomes. But with so many apps available, finding one that is high-quality can be like finding a needle in a haystack. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn about what makes a high-quality instructional app, how to evaluate apps, and how to prepare to integrate app use into the curriculum.

This hands-on workshop focuses on the use of mobile devices and educational apps in the classroom with students with autism, other developmental disabilities, and even typically developing learners. We will address identifying your app needs, selecting apps that address those needs, and how to plan for using those apps with students. Participants should bring an iOS or Android mobile device with them and pre-load the following free apps on their devices:

• Kids Academy 123 Tracing free educational app
• Learn Montessori 123 Numbers
• Lasers Free
• One app of the participant’s choice

Single-subject designs are ideally suited to evaluate educational outcomes for any student, including those with autism. The characteristics of single-subject designs that make them ideal include their adaptability to each child’s baseline level of performance, their flexibility to work with almost any dependent variable, and their ability to determine functional variables with some certainty. Single-subject designs in applied settings evolved in the mid-1960s as a way of showing experimental control with individuals in a variety of settings, from a psychiatric hospital to university-based clinics and regular classrooms. With the publication of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis in 1968, single-subject designs had a showcase for demonstrating their power to go beyond statistical correlations to showing actual cause and effect with interventions and clinical treatments. This presentation I will demonstrate and discuss the application of reversal, multiple-baseline, multi-element, and changing criterion designs for a variety of independent and dependent variables with children with autism.

This session will introduce participants to a research-validated approach to mathematics instruction that can be used to support students with autism. The session will include specific examples of the Concrete-Representational-Abstract progression focused on helping students to model and think mathematically.

This presentation is designed to provide a practical, systematic approach for assessment and teaching of ADLs to students with autism and related disorders. It is intended to assist teachers and parents in conceptualizing and understanding issues that facilitate and interfere with students’ abilities to be successful learners, generally and specific to ADLs. This session will address the following topic areas:
*Fundamentals of Applied Behavioral Analysis to more effectively utilize techniques and strategies for teaching our students.
*A review of core principles of functional assessment, and specific methodologies as applied to assessing ADLs.
*Global considerations for program design (progression and prioritizing), as well as implementation (instructional arrangements, interfering behaviors, requisite skills, motivation, generalization, etc.) will be examined. A review of systematic teaching procedures, including Discrete Trial, differential reinforcement, shaping, prompting, etc., will also be covered.
*Basic procedures essential to teaching ADLs, including task analysis, chaining, stimulus control, etc., will be presented. Skill-specific considerations and common mistakes (what and how to detect), as well as practical strategies to avoid or remediate, will be offered.
*Case examples to represent a range of ADLs (e.g., from eating, hygiene to safe mobility, personal organization) will be used to illustrate the overall process and procedures described.
*As time permits, participants will be given an opportunity to share actual challenges they experienced, whereby considerations and potential strategies will be discussed.

This presentation will review behavioral research in vocal training procedures. Summaries and protocols of effective training procedures will be presented. Learning objectives: Describe and summarize recent research in stimulus-stimulus pairing, vocal variability, RMIA, and other behavioral approaches to vocal training; list protocols for the speech training procedures presented; and, discuss the efficacy of the various vocal training approaches in terms of likely responders.

One repertoire that is often neglected in many teaching programs is that of reasoning, which is required for most forms of problem-solving. This workshop will show teachers, parents, and other professionals how to directly teach reasoning. The process involves the concurrent development of two repertoires, a talk-aloud analytical repertoire and a repertoire of active listening. Each is learned and practiced separately and then combined to form the repertoire required for reasoning. Special procedures have been developed for children with special needs, which include carefully teaching the five components of talk-aloud problem solving and active listens, and ensuring that the learner has a vocabulary of problem-solving. Participants will first learn and practice the methods themselves, and then they will learn how to adapt the methods to be effective with the populations with whom they work.

Due to the sequence and active responding of this session, presenters T.V. Joe Layng and JoAnne Robbins have chosen not to make their presentation available to participants until after the presentation is over. Thank you for your understanding and enjoy the session!

Implementation of evidence-based practices, in relation to applied behavior analytic-based interventions for students with autism, requires teachers to have the skills that allow for effective management and organization of their classroom environment, instructional materials, and data-collection tools that make the data-collection process efficient and allow for data-based decision making, and time allocation for instruction. This training will provide participants with the information and specific tools necessary to organize their classroom in a manner that will ease the process of implementation to optimize student achievement.

Today, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a recommended treatment for children with an ASD diagnosis because of its effectiveness. This effectiveness is based not on a specific nor popular procedure but upon a scientific methodology characterized in a seminal article by Baer, Wolf, and Risley (1968) entitled “Some Current Dimensions of Applied Behavior Analysis.” That article described seven characteristics that, when applied, distinguish the professional practices of applied behavior analysts from the professional practices of other professions, e.g., teachers, occupational therapists, social workers, and speech pathologists. In 1968, behavior analysts numbered in the hundreds that were conducting research in institutions and university settings. By contrast, today there are thousands of behavior analysts with thousands of other teachers and clinicians implementing behavioral programs in schools, clinics, and home settings for children with ASD. This current widespread implementation of programing and procedures in the name of applied behavior analysis presents ethical and practical challenges to the behavior analytic field and, in particular, to those behavior analysts and teaching staff implementing and marketing those programs as applied behavior analysis. This talk will review the seven characteristics described by Baer, Wolf, and Risley (1968, 1987), the professional practices informed by those characteristics, and what it means to be behavior analytic. Barriers to implementing those practices will be discussed, with attention to classroom and clinical applications. Special attention will be given to data reliability and treatment integrity and their importance to practicing behavior analyst and teaching staff implementing behavioral programs. Practical procedures to collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and responding to these data will be discussed.

The primary objectives of this session are 1) to describe the behaviors we call “listening,” 2) to teach attendees to distinguish them from the behaviors of a listener (as described by Skinner in his book Verbal Behavior), and 3) to discuss ways to teach listening behaviors to individuals who lack them. Traditionally, when we command that someone “listen” or “pay attention,” we do not specify any behaviors- listening and paying attention are assumed to be cognitive processes. In this talk, however, I will suggest that what we usually mean when we say that someone is listening (or paying attention) is that they are engaging in specific behaviors, including echoic and intraverbal behaviors. Thus, at one level, the behaviors involved in speaking and listening are indistinguishable. Although behaving as a listener and listening usually occur together, they need not. Often, nonverbal individuals can behave to varying degrees as a listener, but do not listen. Therefore, after clarifying the distinction between behaving as a listener and listening, and describing each in terms of the respective behaviors and learning histories necessary to establish them, I will conclude by suggesting ways to teach both repertoires.

Whether the child or adult with autism is dependent on others for care and safety or is able to navigate the community independently, their contact with police and public safety professionals is often high risk, confusing, and a challenge for all involved. Research indicates that people with autism will have a higher rate of contact with law enforcement agencies and that these contacts are often predictable. For example, when the less independent child or adult wanders dangerously away from around-the-clock care, or when calls for assistance come from parents, caregivers, and educators about the child or adult prone to tantrums and meltdowns that now result in an aggressive physical confrontation at home or on campus. These contacts hold the real potential of injury or death, for the use of force and subsequent arrest and criminal or civil charges. Police and public safety agencies throughout North America are now embracing training and creative information gathering programs for the emergency call center (911) that help increase officer and citizen safety, make more effective use of time and resources, improve communications in the field, and provide for improved management of autism, related field contacts in a safe, fair, and effective manner. This session will explore police training room strategies and identify proactive partnership opportunities between the autism and police communities that enhance the understanding of autism for police and enhance citizen education of the roles and responsibilities of police and public safety professionals.

This presentation will focus on how to use behavior analysis and the VB-MAPP to assess a child’s language, learning, and social skills, as well as potential barriers that may be impeding skill acquisition. Participants will then learn how to use the results of the assessment to determine an individual child’s immediate and long-term intervention priorities. For example, a child may be able to repeat words when they are spoken, but not independently use those words to name or ask for things. Or, a child may have a sizable list of vocabulary words, but rarely engage in conversations. The VB-MAPP can identify these problems, compare them to typical language acquisition patterns, and chart a path for a language, learning, and social skills intervention program.

A delay in social behavior is a key diagnostic feature of children with autism. Across the autism spectrum, children exhibit delays in social skills such as making eye contact, initiating and responding to joint attention, playing with friends, sharing toys, greeting others, engaging in conversations, and responding to subtle social cues. This presentation will review recent research on ameliorating these delays and will highlight three specific studies. In order for social behavior to be maintained in the natural environment, social stimuli, such as praise, must function as reinforcers. In the first study, contingent pairing of known reinforcers and praise established praise as a reinforcer for the behavior of children with autism. This study was especially relevant for students on the more severe end of the autism spectrum. Students at the higher-functioning end of the spectrum often have fewer social delays, but a common challenge for them is responding to facial expressions. In the second study, video modeling was used to teach children to respond to eight subtle facial expressions made by adults and children. In the third study, a tactile prompt was used to cue children to look at an adult and respond to their facial expressions. The presentation will end with recommendations for improving the social behavior of children with autism.

Development of friendships is a challenge for individuals with autism. Many friendships are built around recess, family gatherings, and community events which require social and athletic abilities. Learn simple, research-based methods to improve interest, knowledge, and motor abilities via “Friends and Fitness.” This athletically oriented social opportunity offers an individualized, evidence-based curriculum for learners with autism in a small group format. This therapy “class” meets twice weekly at a studio or community location and is team taught by a certified personal trainer, Eric Perez and Tamara Kasper MS, CCC-SLP, BCBA. This social opportunity provides direct instruction with prompting and prompt fading using Direct Instruction cues and procedures in three areas: Athletic skills needed in order to participate in games and athletic activities, social skills required to make and maintain friends, and the ability to follow directions from a coach or peer who is organizing an opportunity. Goals are individualized and include recognizing games/sports, understanding the rules of games/sports, pairing games/sports with reinforcement, joining a formal/informal game or activity, organizing a game or activity, asking others to join, predicting the behavior of a peer, identifying and rating your own level of volume, fatigue, like/dislike, speed during an activity, asking others about their feelings, offering assistance, early negotiation/problem solving, and understanding language and figures of speech associated with sports. This instruction consists of cartoon representations of social language goals, video models, guided practice with feedback, and contrived opportunities to practice skills through games, and contrived social problems. The class is comprised of learners with autism and specially trained, typically developing peer models. Past participants demonstrate dramatic progress in post-test assessment of social skills, motor skills, and sports facts. Shadows are assigned on an individual basis as needed, based on the social skills and motor skills of the learner.

Successful techniques for toilet training students with autism and other disabilities in a public school setting will be discussed. Protocols, data collection, and case study data from five students will be shared. This session will provide practical guidance that is applicable to the school setting. This inspiring presenter will also discuss collaboration with parents and the school’s role in supporting the toilet training process at home. This session will be beneficial for school personal, consultants, and parents.

Increasing the efficiency of instruction is a common goal in educational settings for individuals with an autism spectrum disorder. The efficiency of instruction can be enhanced by decreasing the amount of time it takes to teach a skill or increasing the amount of information that is learned during instruction. Instructive feedback is one instructional strategy that can enhance learning with children and adults with an autism spectrum disorder. Dr. Kodak will review the literature on instructive feedback, discuss ways that instructive feedback has been incorporated into classroom and community settings, and describe behavioral repertoires that may impact the effects of instructive feedback on learning outcomes. Dr. Kodak will also provide clinical examples of how to use instructive feedback in schools settings as well as community or home settings.

Early work experiences during high school are among the most powerful predictors of post-school employment for youth with disabilities. This presentation will focus on findings from and lessons learned projects aimed at connecting youth with disabilities to paid, integrated work experiences during the school year, summer months, and after high school. An especially unique feature of these projects has been our efforts to engage broader communities in supporting early career and community experiences of youth with significant disabilities. Recommendations for schools, families, and communities interested in raising the post-school outcomes and aspirations of youth will be shared.

Although a diagnosis of autism is not dependent on problem behaviors like meltdowns, self-injury, or aggression, odds are that one or more of these types of problems will require address at some point in the life span of a person diagnosed with autism. Behavioral intervention is effective for addressing these problems, especially when a functional assessment of the problem is conducted to determine why the problem behavior is occurring. But because of the seemingly obligatory focus on detecting the impact of single variables, applied behavior analytic technology is often fractured across studies, resulting in a dearth of studies showing socially valid improvements in these problem behaviors and an absence of studies illustrating the assessment and treatment process from start to finish. In this session, an effective, comprehensive, and parent-validated functional assessment and treatment process for the problem behaviors associated with autism will be described.

This session focuses on building an introductory repertoire of strategies that parents, caregivers, and professionals can use to increase compliance and direction-following behaviors in children and young adults. Topics include setting up situations for success, effective use of reinforcement, teaching compliance through sequenced practice, and use of promise reinforcers.

Implementation of evidence-based practices, in relation to applied behavior analytic-based interventions for students with autism, requires teachers to have the skills that allow for effective management and organization of their classroom environment, instructional materials, and data-collection tools that make the data-collection process efficient and allow for data-based decision making, and time allocation for instruction. This training will provide participants with the information and specific tools necessary to organize their classroom in a manner that will ease the process of implementation to optimize student achievement.

Today, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a recommended treatment for children with an ASD diagnosis because of its effectiveness. This effectiveness is based not on a specific nor popular procedure but upon a scientific methodology characterized in a seminal article by Baer, Wolf, and Risley (1968) entitled “Some Current Dimensions of Applied Behavior Analysis.” That article described seven characteristics that, when applied, distinguish the professional practices of applied behavior analysts from the professional practices of other professions, e.g., teachers, occupational therapists, social workers, and speech pathologists. In 1968, behavior analysts numbered in the hundreds and were conducting research in institutions and university settings. By contrast, today there are thousands of behavior analysts with thousands of other teachers and clinicians implementing behavioral programs in schools, clinics, and home settings for children with ASD. This current widespread implementation of programing and procedures in the name of applied behavior analysis presents ethical and practical challenges to the behavior analytic field and, in particular, to those behavior analysts and teaching staff implementing and marketing those programs as applied behavior analysis. This talk will review the seven characteristics described by Baer, Wolf, and Risley (1968, 1987), the professional practices informed by those characteristics, and what it means to be behavior analytic. Barriers to implementing those practices will be discussed, with attention to classroom and clinical applications. Special attention will be given to data reliability and treatment integrity and their importance to practicing behavior analyst and teaching staff implementing behavioral programs. Practical procedures to collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and responding to these data will be discussed.

The primary objectives of this session are 1) to describe the behaviors we call “listening,” 2) to teach attendees to distinguish them from the behaviors of a listener (as described by Skinner in his book Verbal Behavior), and 3) to discuss ways to teach listening behaviors to individuals who lack them. Traditionally, when we command that someone “listen” or “pay attention,” we do not specify any behaviors- listening and paying attention are assumed to be cognitive processes. In this talk, however, I will suggest that what we usually mean when we say that someone is listening (or paying attention) is that they are engaging in specific behaviors, including echoic and intraverbal behaviors. Thus, at one level, the behaviors involved in speaking and listening are indistinguishable. Although behaving as a listener and listening usually occur together, they need not. Often, nonverbal individuals can behave to varying degrees as a listener, but do not listen. Therefore, after clarifying the distinction between behaving as a listener and listening, and describing each in terms of the respective behaviors and learning histories necessary to establish them, I will conclude by suggesting ways to teach both repertoires.

Whether the child or adult with autism is dependent on others for care and safety or is able to navigate the community independently, their contact with police and public safety professionals is often high risk, confusing, and a challenge for all involved. Research indicates that people with autism will have a higher rate of contact with law enforcement agencies and that these contacts are often predictable. For example, when the less independent child or adult wanders dangerously away from around-the-clock care, or when calls for assistance come from parents, caregivers, and educators about the child or adult prone to tantrums and meltdowns that now result in an aggressive physical confrontation at home or on campus. These contacts hold the real potential of injury or death, for the use of force and subsequent arrest and criminal or civil charges. Police and public safety agencies throughout North America are now embracing training and creative information gathering programs for the emergency call center (911) that help increase officer and citizen safety, make more effective use of time and resources, improve communications in the field and provide for improved management of autism, related field contacts in a safe, fair, and effective manner. This session will explore police training room strategies and identify proactive partnership opportunities between the autism and police communities that enhance the understanding of autism for police and enhance citizen education of the roles and responsibilities of police and public safety professionals.

This presentation will focus on how to use behavior analysis and the VB-MAPP to assess a child’s language, learning, and social skills, as well as potential barriers that may be impeding skill acquisition. Participants will then learn how to use the results of the assessment to determine an individual child’s immediate and long-term intervention priorities. For example, a child may be able to repeat words when they are spoken, but not independently use those words to name or ask for things. Or, a child may have a sizable list of vocabulary words, but rarely engage in conversations. The VB-MAPP can identify these problems, compare them to typical language acquisition patterns, and chart a path for a language, learning, and social skills intervention program.

A delay in social behavior is a key diagnostic feature of children with autism. Across the autism spectrum, children exhibit delays in social skills such as making eye contact, initiating and responding to joint attention, playing with friends, sharing toys, greeting others, engaging in conversations, and responding to subtle social cues. This presentation will review recent research on ameliorating these delays and will highlight three specific studies. In order for social behavior to be maintained in the natural environment, social stimuli, such as praise, must function as reinforcers. In the first study, contingent pairing of known reinforcers and praise established praise as a reinforcer for the behavior of children with autism. This study was especially relevant for students on the more severe end of the autism spectrum. Students at the higher-functioning end of the spectrum often have fewer social delays, but a common challenge for them is responding to facial expressions. In the second study, video modeling was used to teach children to respond to eight subtle facial expressions made by adults and children. In the third study, a tactile prompt was used to cue children to look at an adult and respond to their facial expressions. The presentation will end with recommendations for improving the social behavior of children with autism.

This session is designed to meet the unique communication needs of children with autism and other developmental disabilities who struggle to speak. This presentation will review available research from the fields of speech-language pathology and applied behavior analysis to identify efficient and effective treatments for improving speech production skills. Specific methods to enhance speech production will be described and/or illustrated via video. The independent and dependent variables will be identified for each strategy. Speech production training in natural environments and in structured teaching environments will be explored, including methods to shape successive approximations to adult form words and improving intelligibility of multiword utterances.

It has been reported that almost half of children and adolescents diagnosed with ASD have been prescribed psychotropic medication. Thus, it is imperative that consumers are familiar with how medications work, their desired effects, and their side effects. The presentation will therefore focus on some fundamental facts about medications, including how they are administered, tolerance, and medication half-life. Moreover, I will discuss some of the behavioral functions of medications that might have clinical significance.

Increasing the efficiency of instruction is a common goal in educational settings for individuals with an autism spectrum disorder. The efficiency of instruction can be enhanced by decreasing the amount of time it takes to teach a skill or increasing the amount of information that is learned during instruction. Instructive feedback is one instructional strategy that can enhance learning with children and adults with an autism spectrum disorder. Dr. Kodak will review the literature on instructive feedback, discuss ways that instructive feedback has been incorporated into classroom and community settings, and describe behavioral repertoires that may impact the effects of instructive feedback on learning outcomes. Dr. Kodak will also provide clinical examples of how to use instructive feedback in schools settings as well as community or home settings.

This presentation will address the effectiveness and feasibility of peer-mediated interventions as evidence-based approaches for promoting inclusion and social participation within inclusive classrooms, extracurricular activities, and other school settings. Strategies for implementing peer support arrangements and peer networks will be shared, along with recommendations for reconsidering the use of individually assigned paraprofessionals and other special education staff to promote school inclusion.

This session will provide a review of various strategies and procedures for the delivery of high-quality instruction. The focus will be on evidence-based interventions that include addressing the core issues of autism spectrum disorders, namely communication and social skills. The importance of instruction as a team effort that involves systematic training, data-guided decision making, and team communication will be emphasized.

When families, schools, and service providers effectively work together, the results directly and indirectly benefit the student, and opportunities to build rapport between families and schools are enhanced. “Creating Agreement in Special Education” is an interactive training designed to help participants consider the complexity inherent in any conflict scenario, and to learn the essential skills for constructively engaging in discussions that lead to informed perspectives and meaningful resolutions.

A behavioral analysis of language provides the practitioner with a powerful approach to teaching verbal behavior to persons with autism. The presenter of this workshop will introduce the basic concepts found in Skinner’s (1957) analysis of verbal behavior. Based upon the analysis methods for teaching verbal behavior to persons with autism will be discussed and demonstrated through video illustrations in educational and clinical settings.

Skillstreaming is a heavily research-based curriculum for the teaching of social skills in individual and group settings from early childhood through adolescence. Skillstreaming covers 60 skills across 5 groups, including classroom survival skills, friendship making, dealing with feelings, skill alternatives to aggression, and dealing with stress. This presentation will focus on the assessment of social skills, the development of goals, lesson planning, and progress monitoring/data collection procedures. Case studies with video demonstrations will also be presented.

This presentation will review the learning mechanisms by which problem behaviors such as aggression, self-injury, and stereotypy are acquired and maintained, provide detailed description of numerous methods for conducting functional analyses, and integrate assessment findings with intervention strategies.

Meeting the Needs of Individuals with Autism through Collaboration and Appropriate Supports

During this session, the Bureau of Autism Services (BAS) and Pennsylvania Autism Service, Education, Resources, and Training (ASERT) representatives will share exciting information about key initiatives, including updated Pennsylvania autism census data; the ASERT Collaborative initiatives, including the 2013 launch of the Statewide Resource Center and website; and current information about the Adult Autism Waiver and Adult Community Autism Program (ACAP). BAS presenters will also share additional resources and collaborative efforts underway to help individuals with autism improve their quality of life, achieve independence, and become contributing members of their communities.

Although an increasing number of single-case studies have focused on teaching language skills to children with autism using Skinner’s (1957) analysis of verbal behavior in recent years, the majority have concentrated on establishing primary operants at the single-word level. Nevertheless, from two to three years of age, typically developing children naturally demonstrate generalized and multiply-controlled verbal behavior, including autoclitics. They are, for example, able to provide full-sentence answers to novel questions about ongoing and past events, to describe their own experiences, and to respond to a diversity of novel instructions. One of the greatest challenges currently facing applied behavior analysts remains, therefore, how to teach such complex verbal behavior to children with autism. This presentation will propose that contemporary analyses of naming (Horne & Lowe, 1996), joint control (Lowenkron, 1998, 2006), and multiple control (Michael, Palmer, & Sundberg, 2011) together offer a conceptually coherent practical basis for the development and curricular organization of procedures to meet this challenge. A program of instruction will be presented in which language objectives are organized along a continuum of increasingly complex stimulus control, and discussion thereby provided of how best to move from establishment of basic vocabulary in primary operants to mastery of complex verbal conditional discriminations across primary and secondary operants. In addition, specific procedures that manipulate interactions between speaker and listener behavior to maximize the effectiveness of language-based interventions will be described and demonstrated. Special emphasis will be placed throughout on the role of autoclitic frames and intraverbal control in teaching generalized question answering and descriptive skills at the tact and intraverbal level and on the role of joint control in the emergence of complex listener skills.

This presentation will discuss the role of the occupational therapist as an integral member of evidence-based autism support programs. Topics related to assessment, goal selection, progress monitoring of performance skills, activities of daily living, and leisure will be presented, along with supporting empirical literature, case studies, and video examples.

Feeding problems are common among children diagnosed with autism and developmental disabilities. The feeding difficulties of these children potentially stem from and are maintained by numerous biological and environmental factors. This presentation will begin by providing an overview of factors that may trigger feeding difficulties with a particular focus on common problems encountered in children with autism. Conducting feeding assessments for classifying feeding difficulties will be discussed and evidence will be presented suggesting that the most common feeding problem for children with autism is food selectivity. Effective behavioral interventions for selective intake and food refusal will then be reviewed. Systematically presenting previously rejected and/or novel foods will be illustrated as an initial step in the treatment process. Then an antecedent manipulation, the simultaneous presentation of rejected/novel and preferred foods exposure, will be described. Two effective differential consequence procedures, reinforcing acceptance/ignoring refusal-related responses and escape prevention, will be reviewed. Other behavioral interventions that will be reviewed include: simultaneous presentation with food mixing, texture fading, and positive reinforcement and each intervention will be illustrated with a case example.

After students acquire a skill, the focus shifts from what educators do to teach to what students do to learn or develop those skills. This presentation will present general principles and specific strategies designed to increase the probability that students acquire skills and the probability that will choose to engage in high rates of AAA (active, accurate, academic) responding, which should enhance skill fluency, maintenance, and generalization-discrimination.

Employment is generally considered a central defining characteristic of adulthood. Unfortunately, for the majority of adults on the autism spectrum employment remains an unattainable goal. Though there may be a number reasons why this is the case, a primary reason appears to be the failure to target the necessary skills as part of the transition process. Much of our current instructional repertoire is focused on teaching either academic competencies (e.g., reading, math, etc.) or, as individuals enter adolescence, generally isolated activities of daily living (ADLs). Unfortunately, the central employability skills have little to do with academic competencies and are, instead, a subset of adaptive behavior. This workshop will present an overview of transition to employment from the point of view of the individual student, their family, their school, and potential employers with emphasis of the targeting skills that are community, rather than classroom, based.

Behavior analysts seek to provide services within the parameters of the Guidelines for Responsible Conduct developed by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Broad themes of effective intervention, professional integrity, and clarity of roles guide our professional decisions. In practice, however, most behavior analysts encounter situations in which the right course of action is not entirely clear. In this workshop, we will review some of the guidelines, as well as some of the themes that permeate the Guidelines, our professional conduct code. We will then discuss specific, common scenarios that may challenge a behavior analyst in practice, and review strategies to guide our professional and ethical decision making.

This session will provide basic information related to preventing and managing problem behaviors that are common for many children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The focus will be on practical methods of teaching alternatives to problem behavior and for reducing how often problem behaviors occur. The session will discuss the importance of the situations which lead to problem behavior and how to alter our interactions with children with ASD to successfully establish willing learners who communicate their needs more effectively.

I will describe how we incorporate behavior analytic principles and procedures to teach behavior analysis online at the graduate level. Our curriculum team applies instructional design principles and procedures to develop curricula. These include specifying clear learning objectives, specifying critical and variable attributes of each concept, providing examples and non-examples of each concept, and providing frequent practice and feedback even during canned instruction (videotaped lectures, written material, and online exercises). Our instructional team provides live online instruction consisting mostly of practice, feedback, and clarification. Our evaluation and performance improvement team utilizes data to improve curricula and instructor performance. Co-instructors are provided with feedback and are on a pay-for-performance system. I will provide examples of many of these procedures and present data on instructor performance and student outcomes. The methods described may be used to teach other subject matters either online or on the ground.

Many children with autism do not acquire vocal verbal behavior as their primary form of communication. To overcome this deficit, the implementation of some behavior analytic procedures has shown promise in supporting the development of vocal verbal behavior in children with autism. Specific teaching procedures that aim to increase speech production and speech clarity are described, as well as the learner characteristics necessary for the implementation of each procedure.

A behavioral analysis of language provides the practitioner with a powerful approach to teaching verbal behavior to persons with autism. The presenter of this workshop will introduce the basic concepts found in Skinner’s (1957) analysis of verbal behavior. Based upon the analysis methods for teaching verbal behavior to persons with autism will be discussed and demonstrated through video illustrations in educational and clinical settings.

The sexual development of individuals diagnosed with ASD is a subject that deserves particular attention. Over the last few years, several authors have become increasingly aware of the importance of this topic, by proposing various intervention strategies, therapeutic tools, and socio-sexual educational programs adapted to individuals with ASD. Sexuality constitutes an important factor in the healthy development of individuals and quality of life is partly indicated by how satisfied individuals are with their sexual lifestyle. The sexual development of adolescents with ASD is composed of several aspects, such as behaviors, intimacy, emotions, communication skills, self-esteem, prevention, sexual knowledge, and experiences. Despite the difficulties they encounter in communicating, and interacting socially, their interest in sexuality is very similar to adolescents and young adults in the general population. However, the cognitive profile and symptoms associated with ASD must be considered in order to fully understand their sexual development.

Although an increasing number of single-case studies have focused on teaching language skills to children with autism using Skinner’s (1957) analysis of verbal behavior in recent years, the majority have concentrated on establishing primary operants at the single-word level. Nevertheless, from two to three years of age, typically developing children naturally demonstrate generalized and multiply-controlled verbal behavior, including autoclitics. They are, for example, able to provide full-sentence answers to novel questions about ongoing and past events, to describe their own experiences, and to respond to a diversity of novel instructions. One of the greatest challenges currently facing applied behavior analysts remains, therefore, how to teach such complex verbal behavior to children with autism. This presentation will propose that contemporary analyses of naming (Horne & Lowe, 1996), joint control (Lowenkron, 1998, 2006), and multiple control (Michael, Palmer, & Sundberg, 2011) together offer a conceptually coherent practical basis for the development and curricular organization of procedures to meet this challenge. A program of instruction will be presented in which language objectives are organized along a continuum of increasingly complex stimulus control, and discussion thereby provided of how best to move from establishment of basic vocabulary in primary operants to mastery of complex verbal conditional discriminations across primary and secondary operants. In addition, specific procedures that manipulate interactions between speaker and listener behavior to maximize the effectiveness of language-based interventions will be described and demonstrated. Special emphasis will be placed throughout on the role of autoclitic frames and intraverbal control in teaching generalized question answering and descriptive skills at the tact and intraverbal level and on the role of joint control in the emergence of complex listener skills.

This presentation will discuss evidence-based strategies and practical tips for teaching the motor skills necessary for functional communication with sign language. Topics related to typical fine motor development, kinematic component analysis of signs, modifying signs, and developing fluency will be presented, along with supporting empirical literature, case studies, and video examples.

Results of a number of within-subject studies have shown that individuals with autism elope for three main reasons: to gain access to preferred items, to escape undesirable settings or activities, or to gain attention from others (e.g., Piazza et al., 1997; Rapp, Vollmer, & Hovanetz, 2005). In contrast to this goal-directed bolting, some children with autism wander without a clear course due to skill deficits and/or a lack of recognition of potential dangers (e.g., oncoming car, swimming pools). These children have not been successfully taught to discriminate between safe and unsafe environment or to monitor and maintain safe proximity to caregivers. Despite the clear impact elopement has on the health, safety, and well-being of these individuals and their families, no comprehensive treatment approaches to the assessment and treatment of goal-directed bolting and wandering have been empirically validated. In this presentation, I will discuss a comprehensive model aimed at (a) distinguishing elopement from wandering and (b) developing treatments for problems of elopement and wandering that are uniquely tailored to assessment outcomes. Our preliminary results suggest that this comprehensive model can lead to more effective treatments.

After students acquire a skill, the focus shifts from what educators do to teach to what students do to learn or develop those skills. This presentation will present general principles and specific strategies designed to increase the probability that students acquire skills and the probability that will choose to engage in high rates of AAA (active, accurate, academic) responding, which should enhance skill fluency, maintenance, and generalization-discrimination.

Employment is generally considered a central defining characteristic of adulthood. Unfortunately, for the majority of adults on the autism spectrum employment remains an unattainable goal. Though there may be a number reasons why this is the case, a primary reason appears to be the failure to target the necessary skills as part of the transition process. Much of our current instructional repertoire is focused on teaching either academic competencies (e.g., reading, math, etc.) or, as individuals enter adolescence, generally isolated activities of daily living (ADLs). Unfortunately, the central employability skills have little to do with academic competencies and are, instead, a subset of adaptive behavior. This workshop will present an overview of transition to employment from the point of view of the individual student, their family, their school, and potential employers with emphasis of the targeting skills that are community, rather than classroom, based.

Teachers need to teach students and also manage a classroom. Teachers providing autism support services have multiple responsibilities. In addition to providing expert instruction they are frequently called on to organize and train a team of staff serving students. This session will focus on the use of applied behavior analysis through analyzing the research of Organizational Behavior Management and supply practical ways to apply the research in the classroom. Topics will include how to manage staff members, train staff members, and create a positive work environment through the use of positive reinforcement with the whole team as well as through setting goals, using encouragement, and team meetings to effectively impact change in the classroom.

What is Direct Instruction and how can it be utilized in an autism support classroom? A review of Direct Instruction history, basic research, the varying curricula available, and prerequisite skills necessary prior to consideration for placement within the programs will be offered. Specific use of placement assessments, signals across curricula, and the use of within-program assessments will be discussed. Classroom examples of single and small-group presentations will be used to demonstrate the implementation of specific programs with student diagnosed with autism within the classroom setting.

Parents are very important participants in the special education process. This session will provide an opportunity for parents and school personnel to review the current timelines, procedures, and forms related to the current special education process in Pennsylvania, from evaluation through IEP development and implementation. The importance of parent engagement in the IEP process will be emphasized. Techniques to enhance parent participation will be discussed. Resources to supplement session content will be provided.

This session will discuss key elements of supervising autism support educational programs, including communication and collaboration, establishing clear expectations, and roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders. Topics such as training, treatment fidelity, and effective staffing for success will also be addressed. Parents, teachers, related service providers, support personnel, classroom staff, and administrators are all invited to learn more about how they can fulfill their responsibility to speak up for very child.

The sexual development of individuals diagnosed with ASD is a subject that deserves particular attention. Over the last few years, several authors have become increasingly aware of the importance of this topic, by proposing various intervention strategies, therapeutic tools, and socio-sexual educational programs adapted to individuals with ASD. Sexuality constitutes an important factor in the healthy development of individuals and quality of life is partly indicated by how satisfied individuals are with their sexual lifestyle. The sexual development of adolescents with ASD is composed of several aspects, such as behaviors, intimacy, emotions, communication skills, self-esteem, prevention, sexual knowledge, and experiences. Despite the difficulties they encounter in communicating, and interacting socially, their interest in sexuality is very similar to adolescents and young adults in the general population. However, the cognitive profile and symptoms associated with ASD must be considered in order to fully understand their sexual development.

Results of a number of within-subject studies have shown that individuals with autism elope for three main reasons: to gain access to preferred items, to escape undesirable settings or activities, or to gain attention from others (e.g., Piazza et al., 1997; Rapp, Vollmer, & Hovanetz, 2005). In contrast to this goal-directed bolting, some children with autism wander without a clear course due to skill deficits and/or a lack of recognition of potential dangers (e.g., oncoming car, swimming pools). These children have not been successfully taught to discriminate between safe and unsafe environment or to monitor and maintain safe proximity to caregivers. Despite the clear impact elopement has on the health, safety, and well-being of these individuals and their families, no comprehensive treatment approaches to the assessment and treatment of goal-directed bolting and wandering have been empirically validated. In this presentation, I will discuss a comprehensive model aimed at (a) distinguishing elopement from wandering and (b) developing treatments for problems of elopement and wandering that are uniquely tailored to assessment outcomes. Our preliminary results suggest that this comprehensive model can lead to more effective treatments.

Anxiety is a term used for the most common group of psychological/behavioral problems affecting mankind. These problems are so prevalent in typically developing persons that they could plausibly be thought of as the psychological equivalent of fever. Pertinent to this presentation, these problems are even more prevalent in persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) than in typically developing persons. One obstacle to clinical progress is the term anxiety itself. It is a hypothetical term that has never been adequately defined. For example, the most authoritative book on anxiety disorders does not even attempt a definition for the first 100 pages and the one then offered is a long paragraph that itself includes a number of undefined terms. Nonetheless, a number of effective treatments have been developed. Although better understanding of term and the phenomena to which it refers would advance treatment even more, the purpose of this talk is merely to describe what is currently known. For example virtually all of the problem behaviors associated with anxiety involve either avoidance or escape. And virtually all of the effective treatments involve approach or exposure. This talk will discuss anxiety in straightforward terms, illuminate the extent to which it affects virtually everyone to a certain degree and more to the point of the conference, the extent to which it affects persons with ASD even more. It will also discuss treatment both in terms of experimental study and clinical application. Finally, because the research on treatment of anxiety in persons with ASD is so limited, the talk will extrapolate from the abundant literature on treatment of anxiety in typically developing persons.

This session will orientate participants to the Pennsylvania transition process, along with necessary considerations for learners who have an autism spectrum disorders. Communication skills and sensory preferences will be explored with relevance to a work place and how to make the best fit between the prospective employer and the hopeful employee.

I will describe how we incorporate behavior analytic principles and procedures to teach behavior analysis online at the graduate level. Our curriculum team applies instructional design principles and procedures to develop curricula. These include specifying clear learning objectives, specifying critical and variable attributes of each concept, providing examples and non-examples of each concept, and providing frequent practice and feedback even during canned instruction (videotaped lectures, written material, and online exercises). Our instructional team provides live online instruction consisting mostly of practice, feedback, and clarification. Our evaluation and performance improvement team utilizes data to improve curricula and instructor performance. Co-instructors are provided with feedback and are on a pay-for-performance system. I will provide examples of many of these procedures and present data on instructor performance and student outcomes. The methods described may be used to teach other subject matters either online or on the ground.

Meaningful inclusion begins with a belief that all children should be educated in a general education curriculum. Accomplishing this involves careful attention to meaningful instruction as well as overcoming social barriers. This session, presented by two master teachers in autism support classrooms will highlight processes that allow students to be part of their school community and receive meaningful and appropriate instruction.

This session will focus on developing skills in the natural environment that will prepare students for integration into group instruction and participation in general education settings. We will model the process of using motivational activities to reinforce the generalization of skills taught from Intensive Teaching. Presentation will include examples of lessons, data systems, guidelines for target selection, and overcoming barriers to implementation.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, most children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder at age four or older. However, recent scientific research has shown that children can be identified as early as 12 months of age. Given the extensive evidence indicating that early detection and intervention can significantly improve the prognosis for children on the autism spectrum, identifying these children as early as possible is crucial. The present workshop will review research studies seeking to identify the behavioral characteristics of infants and toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder, evidence-based assessment tools to use, and guidelines regarding “next steps” when a very young child is found to be on the autism spectrum.

This session will provide background information on current research related to PMII and how this strategy may be applied within your setting. Peer initiation training assists in helping learners with ASD acquire important and essential social skills. Peer Mediated Instruction and Intervention has been shown to have positive effects on academic, interpersonal, and personal-social development, and may be the largest and most empirically supported type of social intervention for learners with ASD.

The School District of Philadelphia partners closely with the Philadelphia Autism Instructional Methods Support (Philly AIMS) team from the University of Pennsylvania to help teachers of students with autism in kindergarten through fifth grade implement evidence-based practices. This session will present the process by which teachers are identified for support, our professional development and consultation strategy and logistics, and the evidence-based interventions provided to teachers and staff. The Philly AIMS Needs Assessment, which is a tool used to identify teachers’ strengths and needs, will be presented. Additionally, two new interventions that are part of this partnership will be presented: a model of recess-based social skills intervention and a model for developing successful inclusive practices in schools.

This session will introduce attendees to procedures for guiding classroom teams in the implementation of research-validated instructional procedures for students with autism. Frequently special education classrooms have a team of professionals working together to provide daily instruction for students. Without careful attention to the procedures used for teaching, students can struggle, lose instructional time, and demonstrate problem behavior. The team will share procedures used to train a variety of classroom team members in the delivery of very technical teaching procedures used with students in the classroom. A sample system of training, data sheets, and training materials will be shared. The team will also share strategies targeted to increase motivation for professional development and procedural accuracy. A staff system of reinforcement will be shared, with examples.

This session will examine how to start small-group instruction with students in grades 4 through 6. Tips on how to choose appropriate peer groups, how to effectively prompt response, the use of signals to teach choral responding and individual responding, and the types of skills that can be reviewed when teaching group responding will be reviewed.

This session will provide a review of systematic programming for a young, non-vocal student, diagnosed with autism, how to effectively program for mands, tacts, and intraverbals using textual responses, and how to organize the screens and fade icons to transfer stimulus control from the icon to text.

This session will begin with a brief rationale for the use of peer-to-peer manding to teach social skills and an introduction to basic procedures for implementing peer-to-peer mand training. The remainder of the panel session will feature classroom teams sharing their experiences implementing peer-to-peer manding in the classroom. Teams will share strategies for overcoming issues with implementation and data demonstrating student success.

Presenters for this session will share critical elements necessary for successful inclusion that, when implemented with fidelity, result in students having meaningful participation and positive outcomes. These exceptional elementary school teachers will emphasize the importance of training for all staff members involved; having clear targets and procedures for instruction, as well as for behavior management; the importance of communication and collaboration with special education team members, school staff, and parents; the role of specials teachers; guidelines for maximizing instructional time; and strategies for successful transition between grades.

This session will review first-year efforts to implement interventions for students with autism derived from the science of applied behavior analysis and incorporating an analysis of verbal behavior. The efforts undertaken in the Lee’s Summit School District in Missouri replicate many aspects of the model utilized through PATTAN’s Autism Initiative ABA Supports. The presenters will review critical elements of achieving effective instructional practices for students with autism. Outcomes will be discussed in terms of changes in students’ skill levels.

Meaningful inclusion begins with a belief that all children should be educated in a general education curriculum. Accomplishing this involves careful attention to meaningful instruction as well as overcoming social barriers. This session, presented by two master teachers in autism support classrooms will highlight processes that allow students to be part of their school community and receive meaningful and appropriate instruction.

This session will focus on developing skills in the natural environment that will prepare students for integration into group instruction and participation in general education settings. We will model the process of using motivational activities to reinforce the generalization of skills taught from Intensive Teaching. Presentation will include examples of lessons, data systems, guidelines for target selection, and overcoming barriers to implementation.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, most children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder at age four or older. However, recent scientific research has shown that children can be identified as early as 12 months of age. Given the extensive evidence indicating that early detection and intervention can significantly improve the prognosis for children on the autism spectrum, identifying these children as early as possible is crucial. The present workshop will review research studies seeking to identify the behavioral characteristics of infants and toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder, evidence-based assessment tools to use, and guidelines regarding “next steps” when a very young child is found to be on the autism spectrum.

This session will provide background information on current research related to PMII and how this strategy may be applied within your setting. Peer initiation training assists in helping learners with ASD acquire important and essential social skills. Peer Mediated Instruction and Intervention has been shown to have positive effects on academic, interpersonal, and personal-social development, and may be the largest and most empirically supported type of social intervention for learners with ASD.

The School District of Philadelphia partners closely with the Philadelphia Autism Instructional Methods Support (Philly AIMS) team from the University of Pennsylvania to help teachers of students with autism in kindergarten through fifth grade implement evidence-based practices. This session will present the process by which teachers are identified for support, our professional development and consultation strategy and logistics, and the evidence-based interventions provided to teachers and staff. The Philly AIMS Needs Assessment, which is a tool used to identify teachers’ strengths and needs, will be presented. Additionally, two new interventions that are part of this partnership will be presented: a model of recess-based social skills intervention and a model for developing successful inclusive practices in schools.

This session will introduce attendees to procedures for guiding classroom teams in the implementation of research-validated instructional procedures for students with autism. Frequently special education classrooms have a team of professionals working together to provide daily instruction for students. Without careful attention to the procedures used for teaching, students can struggle, lose instructional time, and demonstrate problem behavior. The team will share procedures used to train a variety of classroom team members in the delivery of very technical teaching procedures used with students in the classroom. A sample system of training, data sheets, and training materials will be shared. The team will also share strategies targeted to increase motivation for professional development and procedural accuracy. A staff system of reinforcement will be shared, with examples.

This session will examine how to start small-group instruction with students in grades 4 through 6. Tips on how to choose appropriate peer groups, how to effectively prompt response, the use of signals to teach choral responding and individual responding, and the types of skills that can be reviewed when teaching group responding will be reviewed.

This session will provide a review of systematic programming for a young, non-vocal student diagnosed with autism, how to effectively program for mands, tacts, and intraverbals using textual responses, and how to organize the screens and fade icons to transfer stimulus control from the icon to text.