Teaching Safety Skills to Adolescents

I am a Special Education Teacher at the high school level. A young man with autism is transitioning to my caseload from our middle school. Although there is much talk about “safety skills” amongst my colleagues, I would like to target this skill area effectively and comprehensively. Any suggestions? Answered by Shannon Wilkinson, MADS, BCaBA,…

ABA for Older Learners

I have an adolescent with autism and want to know how his IEP goals should prepare him for adult life? Is ABA still useful? Answered by Jed Baker, PhD This is such an important question. As an adolescent begins to age out of the educational system, the choices that are made with respect to goal…

Becoming a Savvy Consumer/Educator

Updated by David Celiberti, PhD, BCBA-D (April 2022) Association for Science in Autism Treatment Regardless of whether we are a person with autism, or family member, service provider or advocate, we are all better served with greater knowledge of the science that helps improve the interventions, therapies, and programs for individuals with autism spectrum disorders. You…

Setting up an Evidence-Based Program

What are some of the key elements of setting up an evidence-based program? Intervention choices are guided by published research in peer-reviewed journals. Task force findings related to evidence-basedprocedures are also considered. Providers have the proper credentials and experience, as well as a respect for the scientific literature. Those who carry out the actual intervention…

Video Modeling

Updated by Kait Evoy, MS, LBS1 Association for Science in Autism Treatment Description: Video modeling is a form of the more general practice of modeling. Video modeling is an intervention effective for teaching social skills (e.g., Buggey et. al., 2011), play skills (e.g., Lee et. al., 2017; Petursdottir & Gudmundsdottir, 2017), daily life skills (Shipley-Benamou…

Self-Management Interventions

Kimberly B. Marshall, Ph. D., BCBA-D, University of Oregon Jessica L. Rohrer, Ph. D., BCBA-D, Endicott College, The Center for Children with Special Needs Description: Self-management interventions are classified under the umbrella of applied behavior analysis as they focus on improvements in socially significant behaviors. Self-management interventions teach individuals to engage in actions that change…

Reinforcement Systems

Description: Reinforcement systems are methods to provide consequences following particular behaviors. The purpose of these consequences is to make it more likely that these behaviors will occur again in the future. There are several examples of reinforcement systems: token economies, behavior contracts, and group-oriented contingencies. In a token economy, a person is taught that an…

Direct Instruction

Alice Shillingsburg, PhD., BCBA-D; University of Nebraska Medical Center, Munroe-Meyer Institute & Sarah Frampton, PhD., BCBA-D; University of Nebraska-Omaha Description: Direct Instruction (DI) is an approach to teaching that consists of a carefully designed sequence of instructional material and an explicit approach to delivering instruction to students. Although the techniques are continually being improved upon,…