What are some essential skills in a COVID-19 era?

Answered by David Celiberti, PhD, BCBA-D and Nicole Stewart, MSEd, BCBA, LBA-NY Association for Science in Autism Treatment This is a wonderful and important question! Without a doubt, the long period of service disruption brought about by COVID-19 has been very challenging to families and providers alike.  It also brings additional opportunities to observe individuals…

A review of Teaching social skills to people with autism: Best practices in individualizing interventions

Bondy, A., & Weiss, M. J. (Eds.). (2013). Teaching social skills to people with autism: Best practices in individualizing interventions. Woodbine House. Reviewed by Nicole Stewart, MSEd, BCBA, LBA-NY Association for Science in Autism Treatment It’s no secret that autism presents with persistent deficits in social communication and social interactions. The challenge facing parents and…

What goes into teaching children to answer WH questions?

I’ve been teaching children with ASD for many years. Often my attempts to teach WH questions are unsuccessful. While children learn some rote responses, once I attempt to generalize to new situations, children seem to confuse questions. For example, if I ask a child, “Where did you eat?” the child might say, “Pizza.” Do you have any idea why…

What is Functional Communication Training?

My student Molly is nonvocal. Whenever I assign independent worksheets, Molly will often refuse to work by ripping up the assignment, throwing her pencil, or putting her head down. There are also times when the students are working and I have to take a phone call or am helping another student, and she screams. I…