Compiled by David Celiberti, PhD, BCBA-D, Mariya Qaderi, MPH, Eilis O’Connell, MA, BCBA, and Kathryn M. Daly, MA, BCBA, LBA
Association for Science in Autism Treatment
Receiving a diagnosis for your child can be a confusing and overwhelming chapter for parents. We want to showcase some of our previously published work that may be helpful to you in the journey ahead. For your convenience, each of the articles listed below is briefly described and hyperlinked; quick links can be found at the end.
Newly Diagnosed Children and Early Intervention
Early Detection and Treatment
With the rise in the incidence of autism, more and more families are faced with the challenge of accessing intervention programs for their toddlers with autism. In this Clinical Corner article, Angela Smith, MA, BCBA discusses how the early detection of autism is essential in gaining access to treatment at the earliest point possible.
New Parent Information Packet
This informative and comprehensive parent packet was created to help guide parents of children recently diagnosed with autism as well as for parents who have questions concerning their child’s development both in the United States and abroad. This packet is primarily useful for children from birth through seven years. Check out this wonderful resource for more information about treatment considerations.
Early Intensive ABA program for Autism
In this article, Joey Lim, MEd, BCaBA and Dr. Erin Leif, address many important questions asked by parents starting an ABA program for the first time including what does a therapy session look like? What do I need to begin? What does my involvement look like?
Working with 18-Month-Olds
The positive outcomes associated with behaviorally-based early intervention services have led to more families seeking intervention for their newly diagnosed children. In this installment of Clinical Corner, Peggy Halliday, MEd, BCBA and the late Dr. Tristram Smith offer helpful suggestions for how best to design and implement age-appropriate goals and programs for toddlers receiving these services.
Discussing Concerns with Family Members
When you are worried that someone in your family may have autism spectrum disorder, it can be difficult to know how to share your concerns or observations in a supportive manner. Often times, concerned family members worry that such a discussion will not be well received. You may have a fear that such a discussion may cause some discomfort or tension in your relationship. Weighing the risks and benefits of having the conversation, communicating using a non-judgmental approach, and knowing what you can do to support your loved ones will be highly beneficial. In this installment of Clinical Corner, you will find some considerations and recommendations from Peggy Halliday, MEd, BCBA, and Dr. David Celiberti, PhD, that may assist you in planning the conversation.
Review of Autism: Start Here, What Families Need to Know
In this review, Kate McKenna, MEd, MSEd, BCBA and Chante Stoeckley, MEd, BCBA review a resource published by Autism New Jersey. Navigating the special education system and arranging support for a child on the autism spectrum can be a daunting task. This comprehensive reader-friendly guidebook provides parents with important information they need to be effective advocates for their child.
Review of Applied Behavior Analysis and Autism: An Introduction
Need a great resource for new families attempting to learn about autism and applied behavior analysis? Dr. Lesley Shawler reviews this easy-to-read booklet for families trying to navigate the world of evidence-based autism treatments. This booklet provides relatable examples and clear descriptions on some of the most important behavior analytic principles and teaching procedures to promote successful behavior change with individuals with autism.
Autism Diagnosis
This page includes a brief overview of the diagnostic criteria for autism. Despite the changes associated with the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria, at least one critical point remains the same: Early detection of autism and timely, high-quality access to science-based intervention is key to maximizing outcomes. Here, Leanne Tull, BCBA provides a more detailed overview of the DSM-V diagnostic criteria for autism.
Pediatrician Report
In this article, Chante Stoeckley, MEd, BCBA, LBA, Eilis O’Connell, MA, BCBA and Dr. David Celiberti review a landmark article published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2019. This article, in addition to being a good resource for the medical community, may be helpful for anyone wanting an overview of autism spectrum disorders including insights into the prevalence, clinical symptoms, and screening and diagnosis of autism.
Home-based Intervention
Managing a Home-based ABA Program
Managing, or even just supporting, a home-based ABA program can be challenging for a parent, particularly as this role may be unexpected and unrelated to any of your prior vocational or life experiences. Check out this article for some guidelines from an experienced parent and ASAT Board Member, Beverly Sharpe, on how to make your program more effective and efficient.
Having Productive Meetings
Team meetings are an important component of any comprehensive treatment program, particularly before your child enters a school-based or center-based treatment setting. Veteran mom, and ASAT Board member, Preeti Chojar, MCA offers suggestions for making the most of these meetings–whether they are carried out virtually or in person.
Suggestions for Home Schooling
The recent closure of schools and the cessation of many services brought about by the pandemic created new challenges for parents with children at home 24/7 for months on end. In this article, Marcia Questel, MSEd, BCBA shared several strategies to help make these circumstances more manageable.
Promoting Carryover during Home Schooling
In this additional article, Drs. Mary Jane Weiss and David Celiberti focus on how to best coordinate instruction at home with input from a child’s teacher. Tips for structuring the day, deciding on goals to work on, maximizing motivation, and developing a system that works for the whole family are discussed.
Providing Input to the School Following Home Schooling
This article is a follow up to the one above. Here, Drs. David Celiberti and Mary Jane Weiss help parents put the knowledge about their children to use with their school teams. They provide guidelines for parents about questions they should get the answers to when teaching skills at home, sharing information about things they are teaching their child at home and how they taught them, and how to better advocate for their children.
Encouraging Parent Participation in Home-Based Interventions
Participation of family members within a child’s home-based services is a critical part of the learning process and currently may be an even more vital part of programming given the current pandemic. In this Clinical Corner article, Alice Walkup, MS, BCBA offers tips and strategies that address parent involvement at home.
Parent Advocacy
Advocating for Your Child
Heyde Ramirez, MS, BCBA, LBA and Maria Pantelides, MS, BCBA, LBA from Attention Behavior Care highlight the different professionals who may work with your child. These authors provide helpful tips to advocate for best practices with each professional, which may be particularly relevant given that the diagnosis is new to your family and many important treatment decisions need to be made early on.
Preparing to Speak with the Doctor About Medication
Registered Nurse and Behavior Analyst, Megan Atthowe, discusses critical steps to take when your child is exhibiting problem behavior, including important questions and information to gather before speaking with your child’s doctor.
Parents, Science, and Social Media
With just a few clicks on your keyboard, it is easy to see that there has never been a time when so much information (and misinformation) is available online to family members of individuals with autism. This can be particularly overwhelming when the diagnosis is new to your family. Sometimes this abundance of information guides best practices, and sometimes it can be confusing or distract from accurate information. Tara Palamarik and her daughter, Aleta Murphy, share their thoughts on social media and walk us through the good (and the not-so-good) aspects of it.
Resources for Classmates about Autism
In this annotated bibliography, Simon Celiberti-Byam introduces a list of resources to teach children about autism. This resource will hopefully help consumers choose the best books to hold a child’s interest. Not only are books highlighted, but there are videos and worksheet activities recommended as well.
Differentiating Science and Pseudoscience
Review of The Complete Guide to Autism Treatments (2nd Edition)
In this article, Dr. David Celiberti and Carolyn Sniezyk, MS, BCBA review the 2nd edition of The Complete Guide to Autism Treatments. In this book, Dr. Sabrina Freeman writes about her experiences as a parent and explains complex scientific principles, in easy-to-understand language. She walks the reader through scores of interventions in a comprehensive and objective manner. This book can guide a parent’s decision-making and involvement in treatment planning.
Explaining My Decision to Use Science-based Interventions
In this Clinical Corner article, Drs. David Celiberti and Pam Feliciano discuss the position many parents take in using science-based interventions to treat autism. Further, since there are hundreds of various treatments which claim to treat autism, the authors offer several strategies for parents who wish to explain their choice of intervention to those who may be unaware of the relevance of science or who may be distracted by the abundance of misinformation and pseudoscience.
What Autism Awareness Should Be About
Awareness and acceptance are critically important, as detection and diagnosis are necessary first steps to accessing help in the forms of treatment, information, and support. With over 500 treatments from which to choose, parents of children with autism need guidance, tools, and accurate information to empower them to make the best possible choice for their children. In this article, Dr. David Celiberti discusses some priorities for autism awareness by sharing 11 perspectives about what autism awareness should be about along with several ways that ASAT can assist individuals with autism, families, and providers in navigating the complex maze of autism treatment options.
When is a “Therapy” a Therapy?
Here, Dr. David Celiberti and Denise Lorelli, MS, write about many of the assumptions that parents may make when introduced to an intervention which touts itself as an autism “therapy.” In this article, you will learn how to navigate advertisements (or pitches) for “therapies,” what assumptions to avoid, and what questions to ask, to find quality treatments for your child. While Underwater Basket Weaving Therapy may be a stretch, there are still many other therapies without scientific evidence that are marketed to parents as having real therapeutic value.
10 Resources for Consumers to Evaluation Information Sources
In this Consumer Corner article, Maithri Sivaraman, MSc, BCBA highlights ten resources to help you wade through treatment uncertainty and ensure that your family member with autism is never exposed to treatments that, at a minimum, lighten your wallet, or in the worst-case scenario, are harmful to your loved one and separate your family from the very best that science has to offer.
Review of Life Journey Through Autism: A Parent’s Guide to Research
A considerable challenge for parents of children with autism is to wade through copious quantities of published research; and sometimes the quality is dubious at best. Fortunately, the Organization for Autism Research (OAR) published a second edition of their resource, Life Journey Through Autism: A Parent’s Guide to Research. In this review, Dr. David Celiberti, Elizabeth Tokarskaya, and Stacy Sipe highlight changes in the new edition and provide a link to access the guide. Whether you are new to the world of autism research, or would like a refresher on the science with respect to autism, the second edition of OAR’s resource booklet will be valuable reading.
Teaching and Skill Development
Setting up a Learning Environment
While Melissa Taylor, BCaBA originally wrote this Clinical Corner article to help teachers set up and design their classrooms, it is a helpful resource for parents who may be seeing some or all their child’s intervention being delivered in the home. She provides tips for setting up the “classroom,” organizing materials, and scheduling the day for your children. We are confident that you can pick up a few great ideas as you take on the role of “teacher” in your home.
Teaching Interaction Procedure
Although this article focuses on teaching social skills in a group, Chante Stoeckley, MEd, BCBA, LBA provides rich examples and systematic presentation of the steps involved in the Teaching Interaction Procedure. This procedure may be helpful because it can be used to target an array of skills. We believe you will find these evidence-based strategies helpful.
Video Examples of Effective Instructional Models
ASAT compiled video representations of behavior analytic interventions to show what these look like in practice. Parents have access to a visual presentation of effective instructional strategies that they can utilize when teaching their children goals. A summary of some of these videos by Sarah Jenkins, MA can be found here.
Play and Leisure Skills
Teaching Game Playing to Children with Autism
Play is an integral part of childhood, and it fosters growth in social, emotional, motor, and cognitive skills, learning to play different games can be fun and educational. In this Clinical Corner installment, Maithri Sivaraman MSc, BCBA and Ruth Dolin, MS describe how to choose games and teach game playing to children with autism.
Guided Play Dates
Many children with autism benefit from systematic support and instruction to develop effective play skills. In this edition of Clinical Corner, Dr. Caitlin Reilly and Marcia Questel, MS, BCBA offer readers helpful suggestions for how to make play dates for children with autism more motivating, impactful, and most importantly, fun. Families can also apply these strategies with siblings.
Eating, Toileting, Sleep, and other Health Matters
Improving Food Selectivity
Issues with food are very common in young children with autism. Drs. Seiverling and Williams discuss the challenge of addressing food selectivity in individuals with autism in this Clinical Corner article. They highlight several evidence-based interventions which parents can use and offer data sheets and other resources for tracking your child’s progress.
Improving Food Selectivity (a 2nd article)
In this related installation of Clinical Corner, Dr. Jill Belchic-Schwartz also discusses how to make mealtime experiences more tolerable for individuals on the autism spectrum. She offers practical suggestions that both practitioners and parents can employ to expand a child’s food repertoire and reduce feeding problems.
Review of Broccoli Boot Camp: Basic Training for Parents of Selective Eaters
In this book review, Drs. Sabrina Freeman and David Celiberti look at Broccoli Boot Camp, a well-researched, informative, and accessible guide for the treatment of selective eating. This step-by-step approach is detailed and precise, yet accessible and interesting to read. This book empowers parents to fundamentally change the trajectory of their child’s health and nutrition.
Toilet Training
The home setting can provide unique opportunities to target important self-care skills. Toilet training is a critical skill to teach, and Dr. Frank Cicero highlights the main components of a toilet training plan.
Bowel Training (specifically)
We were fortunate that Dr. Frank Cicero focused on another aspect of toilet training, specifically bowel training, in this Clinical Corner. Dr. Cicero highlights the difference between skill deficits and problem behavior with bowel movement accidents, and how to intervene for each.
Regulating Sleep
Issues surrounding falling asleep and staying asleep are commonplace in families of newly diagnosed children with autism. In this Clinical Corner article, Lauren Schnell, BCBA reviews several strategies for addressing sleep challenges.
Health Considerations
Many autism treatment providers have become parents of a child with autism later in their lives. Also, many parents of a child with autism pursue a career related to autism treatment. Read the incredible story of Dr. Purnima Hernandez, a dentist who became a mom and then went out to acquire her BCBA. Read more about her journey and her views on promoting healthier outcomes for children. There are some related links at the end of this interview.
Oral Hygiene Habits
Establishing oral healthcare routines is a common concern among family members of children with autism. Dental visits can be extremely challenging as such visits occur in an unfamiliar environment, involve unpleasant sounds and sensations, and the individual may have very little understanding of any procedures included in dental exams. This may result in unsuccessful examinations, physical restraint, or avoidance of regular checkups. Check out this useful article by Dr. Mary Jane Weiss, in collaboration with colleagues Samantha Chamberlin, MOT, OTR/L, Sherrell Lawrence, MPA, Allan Forster, MEd, who provide helpful tips and insights to address this issue.
Communication and Motor Skills
Improving Articulation
The speech-language skills of children with autism are routinely addressed and there are an increasing number of treatments used by clinicians of various disciplines. In this edition of Clinical Corner, Tracie Lindblad, SLP, MS, Med, BCBA reviews the available evidence base (at the time of her article) for commonly implemented speech interventions for children with autism and offers recommendations for developing a program to target speech production skills.
Functional Communication Training
While challenging behaviors may be unwanted, it is important to understand that they serve a purpose for individuals with autism. A mainstay of functionally relevant intervention is to target replacement behaviors that serve the same function as the challenging behaviors. For many reasons such as COVID-19 and its associated disruptions, parents may see increases in challenging behavior. In this installment of Clinical Corner, Drs. Lesley Shawler and David Celiberti discuss Functional Communication Training (FCT) both conceptually and practically and offer a framework for implementation.
A Review of Promoting Functional Communication within the Home
The ongoing pandemic has disrupted the lives of so many, including children with autism and their families. Fortunately, Dr. Andy Bondy, Catherine Horton, MS, CCC-SLP, BCBA, and Lori Frost, MS CCC-SLP provide a comprehensive, yet easily understandable roadmap to teaching children functional communication in the home setting. Their well-organized and accessible article includes a breakdown of the nine important functional communication skills, a checklist to assess current levels of functioning, and tips directed towards caregivers when working on these skills.
OT Therapy and ABA
In addition to applied behavior analysis (ABA), many newly diagnosed children are receiving related services, and occupational therapy (OT) may be one of them. Occupational therapy (OT) can supplement your child’s ABA therapy program by supporting a learner’s participation in life with everyday tasks. Amy McGinnis Stango, MS, OTR, BCBA reviews the skills that will be targeted during OT intervention and how they can work in conjunction with your child’s ABA programming.
Addressing Sensory Issues
A common misconception of ABA is that it is “anti-sensory.” Drs. Carl Sundberg and David Celiberti explore the considerations that behavior analysts use when challenging behavior may be deemed as “sensory seeking.” This installment of Clinical Corner explains the importance of differentiating between a sensory need and a sensory preference, and how this impacts finding the “function” of challenging behavior which can lead to more appropriate interventions.
Bilingual families
This article focuses on a question often posed by bilingual and multilingual families: Is it helpful or harmful for a child diagnosed with autism to be exposed to more than one language? Prisca Deliperi, MA, BCBA, and Drs. Lina Slim and David Celiberti, PhD examine the evidence in support of bilingualism in children with autism and discuss factors practitioners should consider when guiding parents in this important family decision
Other Behavioral Concerns
Teaching Safety Skills
Safety skills are an incredibly important aspect of comprehensive intervention for newly diagnosed children. Shannon Wilkinson, MADS, BCBA lists many safety skills in this Clinical Corner, which are important for independence in the community as well as strategies for teaching the skills.
A Non-exhaustive List of Safety Products
This non-exhaustive list compiled by Veronica Glickman, MA, MS, BCBA & Carolina Arguello, BA provides information about numerous types of safety products. This article’s goal is to support family members and caregivers when faced with decisions about their child’s safety. Parents may use this guide as a starting point for determining which products may best suit their child’s needs. However, it should be noted that no safety device should be seen as providing 100% security or as a replacement for adult supervision. We also encourage family members to discuss these needs with trained professionals working with their families so that a wide range of effective and proactive strategies can be considered.
Preventing and Managing Bolting
Bolting is a considerable safety concern for children on the autism spectrum. This Clinical Corner article by Dr. Bridget Taylor and Kate Cerino Britton, MS Ed, MA, lists several resources and important skills to target to reduce that risk.
Parent Participation in a Behavior Intervention plan
Including the family in the implementation of a behavior plan is crucial for the plan’s ultimate success. The collaboration between the parent and the professional working with the child in the program is critical to the effectiveness of the programs. Author Megan Miller, MA, BCBA, EMT discusses the answer to the frequently asked question about the timing of when parents should be involved in the implementation of a behavioral intervention plan for their child.
Review of Let’s Make a Contract
Whether they be personal or professional, the most satisfying relationships are based on mutuality, transparency, respect, and communication. Drs. Dardig and Heward bring this to life in their book, Let’s Make a Contract, and generously share their insights and experiences surrounding this potentially powerful tool. In this review, Katherine O’Keefe, ASAT Board member and sibling to a young man with autism, discusses this book that showcases the journey of families using contracts to address a diverse array of behaviors.
High Probability Instruction Sequence
This article provides an overview of an evidence-based strategy known as the High Probability Instruction Sequence that can be used by parents at home to increase cooperation with non-preferred tasks among children with ASD. Authors Amanda Marshall, MEd, BCBA, and Nicole Stewart, MEd, BCBA explain how this technique can be used by parents, caregivers/ teachers to help children perform non-preferred tasks with less resistance.
Addressing Behaviors Precipitated by Trigger Words
Many families and professionals encounter situations in which certain words can lead to behaviors such as tantrums, verbal protest, or aggression. In this installment of Clinical Corner, Dr. Mary McDonald provides expert advice on the assessment and treatment of problem behaviors that occur in response to such “trigger words.”
A Review of Life Journey Through Autism: A Guide to Safety
In this article review, Mi Trinh, BA, discusses a booklet published by the Organization for Autism Research (OAR) which provides parents and caregivers with helpful tips and strategies to promote and maximize safety. As parents, one of our foremost concerns is the safety of our children. For those who are parents of individuals with autism, the worry about safety is even larger because of the unique set of challenges these children face. For these reasons, it is extremely critical that we as parents of children with ASD equip ourselves with knowledge and strategies that will prove effective and useful to protect, prepare and educate them.
Motivation
Expanding Interests and Reinforcers
Motivation is an essential component of the learning process and will make sessions more enjoyable for all involved. When working with children with autism, the need to expand interests is not uncommon. Being at home provides unique opportunities to explore interests. In this installment of Clinical Corner, Tanya Baynham, MS, BCBA shares some extremely valuable ideas regarding how to expand interests in the areas of toy use, play, and reinforcers, in addition to the positive outcomes that can come from these efforts.
How to Figure Out What Motivates Your Student
Preference assessments can help identify those items and activities that will be most motivating for individuals with autism. In this issue of Clinical Corner, Niall Toner, MA, BCBA shares why preference assessments are so important and provides an excellent overview of the various types of preference assessments that can be conducted with individuals at home and/or school.
Family Adjustment
Managing the Impact of a Child with a Disability on Siblings
In the early childhood years, children spend an extraordinary amount of time with their siblings; therefore, it is not surprising that sibling conflicts may arise. In this installment of Clinical Corner, Drs. Mary Jane Weiss and Nicole Pearson discuss how to support siblings and take steps towards enhancing the quality of these lifelong relationships.
Review of Autism and the Family: Understanding and Supporting Parents and Siblings
Dr. David Celiberti and May Chrisline Beaubrun, MEd, BCBA, review the book Autism and the Family: Understanding and Supporting Parents and Siblings by Dr. Kate Fiske. The book not only helps families to understand autism and the various resources that can be helpful for the family member with autism, but also can assist parents and siblings in understanding the impact that autism is having on their own lives.
Important sections of the ASAT Website
Here are quick links to some of our regularly updated resources:
- Clinical Corner
- Research Synopses
- Treatment Summaries
- Interviews
- Book and Resource Reviews
- Perspectives
- Media Watch
Again, this list was not meant to be exhaustive, but was shared in the spirit of connecting families with needed resources.
Citation for this article:
Celiberti, D., Qaderi, M., O’Connell, E., & Daly, K. (2022). My child was just diagnosed, now what?: A non-exhaustive, annotated list of previously published but relevant ASAT articles. Science in Autism Treatment, 19(8).
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