by: Cheryl Davis, PhD, BCBA-D, Dana Reinecke, PhD, BCBA-D
Behavior analysts already have a well-established technology for teaching complex skills. Behavioral Skills Training (BST), typically involving instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback, has considerable empirical support for teaching staff to perform important clinical skills. Effective training requires opportunities to perform the behavior and receive feedback until competency is demonstrated (Parsons, 2012).
Yet organizations do not always apply this same logic to supervisors.
A new supervisor may receive a job description, policies and procedures, a caseload, and perhaps some administrative orientation before being expected to supervise effectively. They may know that they should “give feedback,” “support their staff,” or “address performance concerns,” but knowing the rule is different from having the behavioral repertoire necessary to implement it.
Imagine, for example, telling a new supervisor:
You need to address this technician’s performance.
That instruction leaves a tremendous amount unspecified.
How should the supervisor begin the conversation?
What behavior should they describe?
How can they distinguish observable performance from assumptions about attitude or motivation?
How should they respond if the employee becomes defensive?
How much corrective versus supportive feedback should they provide?
What happens after the conversation?
How will they know whether the intervention worked?
These are behaviors that can, and should, be taught.
The Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB, 2026) recognizes supervision as an area requiring specific preparation. BCBAs providing certain forms of supervision must complete supervision-specific training, and the BACB’s Supervisor Training Curriculum Outline (BACB, 2024) includes competencies intended to support effective supervisory relationships. Meeting formal supervision requirements, however, should be viewed as the beginning of supervisor development rather than its endpoint.
If supervision is a skill, organizations need a deliberate way to help clinicians develop it. In the next installment, we’ll introduce a six-step, competency-based framework supervisors and organizations can use to turn supervisory expectations into observable, teachable behaviors.
Parsons, M. B., Rollyson, J. H., & Reid, D. H. (2012). Evidence-based staff training: A guide for practitioners. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 5(2), 2–11. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03391819
Author Bios
Cheryl Davis, PhD, BCBA-D (Creator)
Cheryl Davis obtained her doctoral degree from Endicott College in Applied Behavior Analysis. She received a Masters of Science Degree in Intensive Special Education from Simmons College in Boston, MA after attending The University of Connecticut where she received a bachelor’s degree in Human Development. With over 25 years of experience working with children and families with autism, developmental disabilities, and related disorders, Cheryl specializes in working with individuals with ASD and developmental disabilities, online teaching, active responding and skill acquisition. She has had experience as a teacher, job coach, home therapist, residential supervisor, public school consultant, staff trainer and professor. Cheryl has extensive experience in developing training topics for both parents and teaching staff. She has provided professional development trainings to over two thousand teaching staff and enjoys providing services internationally.
Dana Reinecke, PhD, BCBA-D (Creator)
Dana Reinecke is a doctoral level Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D) and a New York State Licensed Behavior Analyst (LBA) and New York State Licensed Psychologist. Dana has worked extensively in higher education in faculty and leadership roles and as a consultant, trainer, and clinician in various settings. She has presented original research and workshops on the treatment of autism and applications of ABA at regional, national, and international conferences. She has published her research in peer-reviewed journals, written chapters in published books, and co-edited books on ABA and autism. Dana has been actively involved in the New York State Association for Behavior Analysis (NYSABA), previously serving on the Board of Directors as Secretary, President, and conference chair.
Part 1: Why Great Clinicians Can Struggle as Supervisors
by: Cheryl Davis, PhD, BCBA-D, Dana Reinecke, PhD, BCBA-D
Clinical expertise does not automatically translate into supervisory expertise. Supervisors need explicit instruction, modeling, practice, feedback, and ongoing support, just like the clinicians they supervise.
In behavior-analytic organizations, a familiar career progression unfolds: a clinician demonstrates strong technical skills, good judgment, reliability, and knowledge of applied behavior analysis, and the next logical step is promotion into a supervisory role. On the surface, the transition makes perfect sense. Who better to supervise others than someone who is already highly competent at the work? The problem is that being an excellent clinician and being an effective supervisor require different repertoires.
Consider what we ask supervisors to do. A supervisor must:
Occasionally navigate uncomfortable conversations about performance.
Supervisors must also learn when to change their own behavior when their current approach is not producing the desired outcome.
The behavior-analytic literature increasingly recognizes that effective supervision requires more than technical competence alone. LeBlanc et al. (2020), for example, emphasized the importance of developing both technical supervisory skills and the interpersonal repertoires necessary to build meaningful and effective supervisory relationships.
Research examining performance feedback similarly suggests that supervisors need proficiency in both technical and nontechnical skills, and that many behavior analysts report receiving insufficient explicit training in how to provide feedback effectively (Fraidlin, 2023). This distinction matters as organizations can easily misinterpret supervisory difficulties as personality problems: She isn’t assertive enough. He doesn’t like confrontation. She just isn’t a natural leader.
A behavioral perspective gives us a more useful way to look at the problem. Instead of asking whether someone “has what it takes” to supervise, we can ask: What does effective supervisory behavior look like, and has this person had sufficient instruction, modeling, rehearsal, feedback, and reinforcement to develop it?
Recognizing supervision as a distinct set of teachable skills is an important first step, but recognition alone is not enough. In the next installment of this series, we’ll explore why new supervisors need structured training, not simply a new title and a list of expectations.
Part 1 References
Fraidlin, A., Van Stratton, J. E., McElroy, A., & Aljadeff, E. (2023). Peer feedback: Recommendations for behavior analysts’ training and supervision. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 16, 696–708. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-022-00761-1
LeBlanc, L. A., Sellers, T. P., & Ala’i, S. (2020). Building and sustaining meaningful and effective relationships as a supervisor and mentor. Sloan Publishing.
Author Bios
Cheryl Davis, PhD, BCBA-D (Creator)
Cheryl Davis obtained her doctoral degree from Endicott College in Applied Behavior Analysis. She received a Masters of Science Degree in Intensive Special Education from Simmons College in Boston, MA after attending The University of Connecticut where she received a bachelor’s degree in Human Development. With over 25 years of experience working with children and families with autism, developmental disabilities, and related disorders, Cheryl specializes in working with individuals with ASD and developmental disabilities, online teaching, active responding and skill acquisition. She has had experience as a teacher, job coach, home therapist, residential supervisor, public school consultant, staff trainer and professor. Cheryl has extensive experience in developing training topics for both parents and teaching staff. She has provided professional development trainings to over two thousand teaching staff and enjoys providing services internationally.
Dana Reinecke, PhD, BCBA-D (Creator)
Dana Reinecke is a doctoral level Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D) and a New York State Licensed Behavior Analyst (LBA) and New York State Licensed Psychologist. Dana has worked extensively in higher education in faculty and leadership roles and as a consultant, trainer, and clinician in various settings. She has presented original research and workshops on the treatment of autism and applications of ABA at regional, national, and international conferences. She has published her research in peer-reviewed journals, written chapters in published books, and co-edited books on ABA and autism. Dana has been actively involved in the New York State Association for Behavior Analysis (NYSABA), previously serving on the Board of Directors as Secretary, President, and conference chair.
I am excited to share that we are building a resource to help BCBAs with the challenges of insurance billing. The ABA Billing Made Easy eBook will be coming out this fall.
Many BCBAs struggle with billing rules and documentation with insurance. It can feel like you’re suddenly speaking a different language, one that was not included in any of your coursework or on the BCBA exam. You are a BCBA, but suddenly you are being treated as a healthcare provider. There are billing codes, highly specific requirements for session notes, and consistent discussion about medical necessity.
I wanted to put together this resource after spending the past nine years providing services through insurance, reviewing audits, following changes to insurance requirements, and training other BCBAs on how to maintain compliance.
The goal of this resource is to provide clarity, and ultimately to give you back your valuable time and reduce your stress.
Before we finalize details, though, we want to hear from you! We want to know which topics you need guidance on, which topics you already have experience with, and what additional topics you want to see that we haven’t added yet. The current list is:
Definitions of the billing code
Questions to ask your agency/company prior to conducting your first sessions
How to address potential barriers to implementing code correctly
How to best utilize these codes if providing services via telehealth
How the Ethics Code applies to each code
Best Practices for each code
Please take two minutes to fill out this brief survey so we can better meet your needs. Survey participants who enter their email addresses on the survey form will be entered to win a free copy of the eBook.
Thank you for your contribution! We’re excited to share this resource with you!
About the Author
Sam has been working with children with autism for 25 years. She loves working with new BCBAs and students pursuing their BCBAs. She is the Chief Clinical Officer at BK Behavior.
I’ve been working with families with autism for over 25 years, and have witnessed firsthand the major shifts in provision of ABA services. We’re living in a time where far more families have access to services, but as the services have become more available the human connection seems to have gotten lost.
I’d like to take a little time to consider how you can approach your work as a BCBA given the very real barriers in place to building strong connections with parents and caregivers. Whether you’re working in a center where parents drop their kids off for services, working to provide in-person parent training once every week through in-home services, or trying to build a rapport via telehealth, there are strategies you can put in place to address the challenges discussed above.
Start off with a clear explanation of expectations. You need buy-in from the parents and caregivers to engage with parent sessions. Discuss with them their role in the provision of services. And ask them about why they sought out ABA services in the first place. It can be useful to create your own simple parent contract that you go over and sign together about everyone’s expectations and roles.
Understand your parents. What are their priorities? Their values? Their concerns? An open dialogue should be occurring in which parents can share concerns about potential interventions as well as ideas they may have. Some ideas for structuring this might include, introductory parent surveys about their expectations and wishes for surveys, having parents write a mission statement about their overall goal for services, or sitting down to align on priorities for all the skills they may want to focus on.
Identify where you and the parents align. You need to ensure you and the parents are on the same page about expectations across the board, as well as treatment priorities. By now, you’re probably seeing that all of this is about communication communication communication. When you’re discussing an intervention, you should be checking for alignment on the goal itself, prompting, the timing of interventions, settings for interventions, and reinforcers. Be detailed!
Lead your team with intention. Think beyond insurance requirements and IEPs. Considering the values and priorities of the parents, what do you need to focus on for each session. Be clear about the goal of each session. It’s not simply a parent training session or supervision session. There should be one or more goals you can clearly define and understand how you intend to achieve those goals in each session.
Check in. Once you have established expectations and alignment, check in on a regular basis (monthly or quarterly) about expectations, priorities, values, and concerns.
About the Author
Sam has been working with children with autism for 25 years. She loves working with new BCBAs and students pursuing their BCBAs. She is the Chief Clinical Officer at BK Behavior.
By James T. Ellis, PhD, BCBA-D and Christine Almeida, MSEd, EdS, BCBA
Image by Chessie Almeida
Hi! Hello! Welcome to the Socially Savvy Second Edition!
Almost 20 years ago, we (Christine and Jim) decided to develop a social-skills assessment, which eventually became Socially Savvy. At the time, we were working together as BCBAs with 3- to 5-year-olds in a public preschool program. Thanks to Christine’s creativity and “let’s just do it” attitude, and Jim’s methodical, sometimes perfectionist approach, the project took about five years. Actually, closer to eight—but who’s counting?
With the support and guidance of Julie Azuma and the incredible team at Different Roads to Learning, it all came together. Socially Savvy has always been something we are incredibly proud of.
When we finally finished, we had poured so much time and thought into every detail that our immediate reaction was, “That’s it. Let’s never write anything again.” And yet, here we are—with the second edition of Socially Savvy just published.
So what could have possibly compelled us to take this on again?
Even after completing the first edition, we both found ourselves constantly noticing new ideas—teaching methods, activities, games—and quietly collecting them. We agreed we wouldn’t revisit such a large project unless we truly had meaningful new material. Over time, that material grew: new games (check), a more efficient way of grouping children (check), updated recommendations for books and practical tips for teachers (check).
But none of those alone would have been enough to bring us back to the drawing board.
What truly motivated us was the evolution of the field—particularly its growing embrace of neurodiversity. That shift prompted us to take a deeper, more critical look at our original work. Had it held up? What needed to change?
We felt strongly that Socially Savvy needed to more clearly reflect a neurodiversity-affirming perspective—not just in the language we use when working with autistic individuals, but also in what we target and how we approach teaching. This meant going through the manual line by line—updating approaches, incorporating new strategies, and removing practices that no longer align with feedback from autistic individuals and the broader community. Our goal was for our work to be a partnership, with autistic voices helping to lead the way. We hope this second edition reflects that commitment.
We recently asked a colleague what she was most looking forward to in the new edition—admittedly a big ask, since she hasn’t seen it yet. She generously shared:
“I am really looking forward to the release of the second edition of Socially Savvy. It sounds like this update truly aligns with the direction the field has been moving—especially the emphasis on neurodiversity-affirming supports and more naturalistic, engaging teaching strategies. Tools like visual supports and interactive games can make a big difference in generalization and motivation, particularly in group-based social skills work.”
We’re proud of this second edition, and we hope it delivers on expectations like these. More than anything, we’re excited to hear from you. So many of you have shared feedback and encouragement over the years, and we truly value it. We look forward to hearing your thoughts once again.
About the Authors
James T. Ellis, Ph.D., BCBA-D James (Jim) Ellis earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from West Virginia University and is a licensed psychologist and board-certified behavior analyst. For over 30 years, Dr. Ellis has provided services for children with autism spectrum disorders and their families. In 2008, he helped found the Step by Step School for Children with Autism in Guyana, South America and in 2012, he founded Step by Step Behavioral Solutions, through which he provided consultation and therapeutic support to individuals with autism spectrum disorders and their families. Currently, Dr. Ellis works in a public school, supervising a group of behavior analysts and overseeing programming for autistic students. Dr. Ellis has written articles for professional journals and presented at local, regional, national, and international levels on topics including play intervention, providing effective consultative services, and supporting children’s social skills development.
Christine Almeida, Ms.Ed., Ed.S., BCBA Christine Almeida earned her M.S.Ed. in Special Education and Ed.S in Behavioral Education from Simmons College in Boston. Ms. Almeida is a practicing board-certified behavior analyst in the Boston area who has worked in both private and public schools. She currently provides oversight of services for young children with autism spectrum disorders for a public school. Ms. Almeida has presented workshops at the local, regional, and national levels on the subjects of educational assessment, play intervention, and social skills.
There’s a famous quote from W. Edwards Deming that says “Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.” While Deming wasn’t a behavior analyst, this statement aligns closely with how BCBAs approach their work.
Most BCBAs will report how much they love data. But as workloads for BCBAs continue to increase, it’s unfortunate that some BCBAs aren’t looking at their client’s data more than once a month, and some aren’t looking until the authorization period ends after 3 to 6 months. It’s true that the system has drastically increased the response effort to review graphs weekly, but BCBAs are ultimately responsible for adapting their behavior in sessions in order to ensure they are completing those consistent reviews.
Our Ethics Code requires that we provide effective services, and a key component of this is ensuring our decisions are driven by data, not by opinion. If you’re feeling rushed and have a big caseload, there are some practical changes you can make to your day-to-day routines to help embed daily data review in your practice. These might include:
Ten minutes prior to a supervision session, select five targets to review. Look at the data, and then focus on those targets during the session.
Ask your clinical director if there are specific prompts within your data collection platform to help you organize data review better. For example, some platforms will have a visual indicator if data should be reviewed, while more sophisticated platforms might have flags or ways to sort out targets in which progress is not being made.
Organize a system with your behavior technicians so they can tell you in advance of supervision sessions what targets they would flag.
If your client has Behavior Treatment Modification hours (97155) or Treatment Planning hours (97151) utilize that time weekly to review data and make treatment modifications. This is what these hours are for!
Remember, we are collecting all this data for the purpose of making treatment decisions. This data is crucial to our work, and it is meant to inform our plans and ensure we are providing effective services. Here are some considerations to keep in mind as you review data:
For any targets that have been mastered, move them to Mastered. If you keep mastered targets in Acquisition, you will lose out on having an accurate understanding of your client’s general rate of acquisition.
For any mastered targets, add in additional targets if necessary. This will give you a more accurate picture of your client’s general rate of acquisition, and also improve variety and continued growth!
If you see a target that has not been mastered after several weeks (or after a time longer than the client’s general rate of acquisition), consider possible changes, such as changes to the prompt level, the materials, or the need for mastering prerequisite skills. Adjust to what the data is telling you.
For any targets you’re uncertain about, run them as-written with the client on your own. Then observe your BT to ensure they are running the program with procedural fidelity.
Identify if there are any targets without data. You will need to review with your BT to understand barriers to implementing the target.
If you see that an increase in challenging behaviors occurs during specific targets, evaluate what changes you may need to make. Again, adjust to what the data is telling you.
This isn’t a comprehensive checklist, but it’s a good start. Ultimately, reviewing all data should be a weekly practice for each client you work with. Otherwise, we’re not providing the full scope of behavior analytic services our learners rely on to make meaningful progress.
About the Author
Sam has been working with children with autism for 25 years. She loves working with new BCBAs and students pursuing their BCBAs. She is the Chief Clinical Officer at BK Behavior.
I never write for our blogs but I wanted to share this glimmer of hope.
This weekend, an acquaintance of a friend of a friend asked me to view a French film called “No Filter Café” at a Socially Relevant Film Festival in NYC.
It’s a film in French about 5 young men diagnosed with severe autism. Professionals in the autism field were hoping to build a future for young adults in this pilot program. The film depicts teaching all facets of food and restaurant preparation. It examines the journey to create a café in the middle of Paris run by autistic individuals. It took one-on-one staff and experts in the food industry 2 years to build the café and prepare the young men for employment. There was much repetition and lots of practice.
The Café Program itself was inspired by Laurence Melloul Piou who is the Director of IME Cour de Venise – Autisme en Ile de France. The film is directed and produced by Galaad Hemsi and Coralie Van Rietschoten. Galaad is a parent of a young, non verbal ASD child.
I hope some of you will be able to view this inspiring film with subtitles to see how much hope we can hold for our severely impaired students. I saw token boards, reward times, positive reinforcement, and lots of skill building.
I was moved to tears, seeing profoundly autistic people reaching their potential and learning to enjoy their work. There was hope, lots of hope, in this film.
There are many programs at many of our schools and we’d love to hear what you are doing to get our students ready for employment, both supportive and independent.
Let’s stay connected!
Julie
Learn More
Learn more about the Socially Relevant Film Festival through Film Freeway.
Synopsis
Élie, Gabriel, Raphaël, Steeve, and Saïd are five teenagers with autism. While their paths would typically lead them to medicalized institutions, isolated from the world, an innovative project is reshaping these predetermined trajectories. Over several years, these young people will take part in a training program to learn culinary skills, plate presentation, order taking, and table service, all the way to running a real café in the heart of Paris.
Point of view
We often talk about inclusion for people with disabilities. But what about autistic individuals with severe challenges? There are still far too few initiatives truly dedicated to them. Their daily lives are often met with barriers, too easily summed up in one phrase: “It’s impossible.” A phrase that parents and professionals hear all too often. And yet, their differences shouldn’t exclude them, they belong in our shared world, bringing their own unique value to it. These individuals are a full part of our society, and it’s time to envision true inclusion, one that leaves no one behind. That’s exactly what’s happening at Notre Café: a unique community restaurant where young people from the IME Cour de Venise gradually learn the codes of working life in a setting tailored to their needs. For several years, we followed them from their very first class to the realization of a project that, not long ago, many would have called impossible.
By Dr. Darren O’Reilly, Chartered Psychologist and Founder of AuDHD Psychiatry
In the first part of this series, we looked at why emotional regulation is harder for children with ADHD and how big feelings can seem to appear suddenly. This section builds on that by focusing on the early internal cues that emotions are rising, and how you can help your child notice what is happening in their body before those feelings spill over.
What Internal Cues Look Like
Internal cues are the signals inside the body that show a feeling is building. They can include changes in breathing, heart rate, muscle tension, or how a child experiences sound, light, or touch.
They are different from external triggers such as a noisy classroom or a sudden change of plan. The trigger is what happens around the child. The internal cue is what happens inside the child in response. Many children with ADHD move quickly from one moment to the next and do not pause to notice these signals.
One parent described her son this way: “He goes from fine to furious in seconds.” When they slowed things down together, they noticed that his hands tightened into fists and his breathing sped up just before he exploded. For families who are also wondering whether big emotional reactions and strong sensory responses might relate to autism as well as ADHD, a free autism test for children can sometimes be a gentle way to reflect on patterns before speaking with a professional.
Common internal cues include:
fast or shallow breathing
tight shoulders, jaw, or hands
“wobbly” or tight feeling in the stomach
sounds, lights, or touch suddenly feel “too much”
Why ADHD Makes Noticing Harder
Emotional regulation depends on attention, memory, and the ability to pause before responding. These are areas where children with ADHD often need extra support. They may react before they have processed what happened or before they can find the right words.
Children with ADHD also tend to focus strongly on what is happening around them and find it harder to tune in to what is happening inside. Emotions rise quickly, leaving less time to notice early signals.
Contributing factors include:
fast emotional reactions that leave little time to pause
attention pulled to the environment rather than the body
difficulty remembering to “check in” when stressed
internal cues that change quickly or feel hard to describe
Triggers and Situations to Watch For
Children may not yet be able to name what their body feels like, but you may notice that certain situations almost always lead to big feelings. A child might seem fine until homework starts, then quickly become restless or tearful. Another might manage a noisy birthday party but come home and collapse in tears.
Common triggers and situations include:
just before or during transitions, such as leaving the house or stopping a favorite activity
loud or busy spaces
unclear or multi-step instructions
rushed routines or unexpected changes to plans
Practical Ways Parents Can Support Noticing Internal Cues
Simple routines at home can help children learn to notice what is happening inside their bodies. Calm moments create space to practice this skill before emotions run high. Modeling is a helpful first step. You might say, “My shoulders feel tight, I think I need a small break,” or “My heart is beating fast, I am going to take a few slow breaths.”
Gentle prompts can then help children practice noticing for themselves. Questions such as “What does your tummy feel like right now?” or “Do your hands feel calm or fizzy?” give children words for their experiences. Visual supports, like a simple body outline or feelings thermometer, can make this easier. When children do notice and share a body signal, specific praise helps reinforce the skill.
Helpful strategies include:
modeling your own internal cues out loud in everyday situations
asking simple, choice-based questions about how the body feels
using tools such as body maps, color scales, or feelings thermometers
praising and gently reviewing early efforts to notice and share internal cues
Be sure to watch for the next installment of this series, where we’ll talk about:
Using external tools to make emotions easier to understand
ABA alignment: using structured visual supports, consistent routines, and predictable cues that reduce ambiguity and increase successful responding.
About the Author
Dr Darren O’Reilly is a Chartered Psychologist and Founder ofAuDHD Psychiatry. He writes about ADHD and autism with a focus on clear, practical guidance for families and adults.
Many people notice traits like difficulty focusing, sensory sensitivities, or social challenges and wonder: Is this ADHD or autism? These two neurodevelopmental conditions often overlap, yet they affect thinking, attention, and communication in distinct ways.
The main difference between ADHD and autism lies in how each influences focus and social interaction. ADHD primarily affects attention, impulse control, and time management, while autism (or autism spectrum disorder) relates more to social communication, routine, and sensory processing. Still, the boundaries can blur, making professional assessment crucial for an accurate diagnosis.
Understanding these differences helps adults and families seek the right support, whether through ADHD assessments or autism evaluations. In this blog series, we’ll explore how ADHD and autism compare, where they overlap, and how recognizing their unique traits can lead to better self-understanding and tailored care.
What emotional regulation difficulties look like
Children with ADHD often experience emotional outburts that come on quickly and settle slowly. This can make ordinary moments feel intense, especially when a task feels confusing or when the environment becomes overwhelming.
Parents may notice behaviors like sudden frustration, tearfulness, shouting, or a child walking away to escape a situation that feels too big.
These reactions are signs that the child has reached their limit. For example, a child may burst into tears when a game ends unexpectedly, yell during homework when the instructions feel unclear, or shut down when a sibling interrupts their play.
Common behaviors include:
quick shifts from calm to upset
raised voice or tearfulness
walking away or withdrawing
repeating the same concern
Why ADHD makes emotional regulation harder
Emotional regulation depends on attention, memory, and the ability to pause before responding. These are areas where children with ADHD often need extra support. They may react before they have processed what happened or before they can find the right words.
Strategies they practiced earlier can be hard to recall once emotions rise. For parents trying to better understand these patterns, reading this guide to ADHD symptoms in girls can help explain why challenges with focus and emotional regulation are often overlooked in daily life.
Contributing factors include:
fast emotional reactions
difficulty pausing before responding
trouble remembering coping steps
feeling overwhelmed by multi step tasks
Triggers and environmental factors to watch for
Strong emotional reactions often follow repeating patterns. Rushed routines, loud environments, unclear instructions, or sudden transitions can make regulation harder. Many parents notice that reactions happen in predictable moments.
For example, a child might become upset when asked to stop a favorite activity, struggle in busy supermarkets, or feel overwhelmed if the morning routine changes without warning. Tracking what happens before the reaction can help parents adjust the environment to reduce stress.
Common triggers and environmental factors include:
loud or busy spaces
unclear or multi-step instructions
rushed transitions
unexpected changes to plans
Practical ways parents can support regulation
Simple adjustments at home can make emotional moments easier to manage. Clear routines, short instructions, and predictable transitions help create a sense of safety. Practicing calming steps during relaxed moments makes them easier to remember when emotions rise.
Visual reminders or simple phrases like I need a minute can give a child a way to pause before reacting. Families often find improvements when they break homework into smaller parts, give a short pause before moving to the next activity, or offer a gentle heads up before leaving places like the playground.
Helpful coping strategies for kids with ADHD include:
breaking tasks into smaller steps
offering short pauses during challenges
giving advance notice before transitions
reviewing triggers together after the moment has passed
ABA alignment: breaking skills into components, modelling, prompting, and reinforcing early identification of body signals and sensory cues
About the Author
Dr Darren O’Reilly is a Chartered Psychologist and Founder ofAuDHD Psychiatry. He writes about ADHD and autism with a focus on clear, practical guidance for families and adults.
This week’s article comes to us from Ashley Inoa, M.A., BCBA, LBA-NJ, Graham Behavior Services. To learn more about ASAT, please visit their website at www.asatonline.org. You can also sign up for ASAT’s free newsletter, Science in Autism Treatment, and like them on Facebook!
Photograph by August de Richelieu (www.pexels.com)
As the parent of a child with autism, the holiday season can often feel daunting: breaks or changes in schedules, large gatherings of people, even special foods and clothing. Are there strategies you might be able to share to best prepare my child, and myself, for this season?
This is a great question and a very common one, regardless of whether the holiday is religious or secular, and it cuts across all faith traditions. Although the holidays are a joyful time for families to come together, we understand how uniquely challenging they can be for families with a member on the autism spectrum. Crowded gatherings, changes in routine, and unpredictable events may be difficult for individuals with autism to navigate. With a bit of preparation and thoughtful planning, though, the holidays can be a positive and enjoyable experience for everyone.
What does the planning and preparation look like? This can look different for every family. And since we know it can be overwhelming to scour the internet for reliable answers and assistance, we’ve gathered practical strategies in one place to help you and your family navigate the holiday season with greater ease and confidence.
Reflect on Past Holidays/Experiences to Plan Ahead
A simple first step is reflection. Take a moment and revisit previous holiday seasons and family gatherings. What worked well for your child? What did not work so well? What caused stress for you? For your child? By identifying patterns, triggers, and “rough patches”—like which environments were too loud, which activities and traditions were enjoyed, or which transitions were tricky—you will be better positioned to anticipate challenges, build on successes, and create a more inclusive and joyful experience for your child.
Build Skills
Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Eid, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Diwali, Kwanzaa, or New Year’s Eve, there may be different parts to your holiday gathering, such as giving gifts, mealtimes, specific family members, or religious traditions. Practice behaviors that may be expected during the holidays, including things like waiting, saying thank you, and holiday specific greetings (e.g., “Merry Christmas, “Eid Mubarak,” “Happy Diwali,” and “Chag Pesach Sameach”). Set up scenarios so your child can rehearse these interactions. For example, have everyone in your family pretend to open a gift and make a comment, and have your child practice waiting for different lengths of time. Practicing for these scenarios may help your child know what to expect and set them up for success! Preparing children with autism for holiday traditions can make celebrations more inclusive and joyful. Some additional skills and activities—both religious and cultural that you may consider targeting in advance include, passing foods to a family member at the table, learning a song, handling religious items respectfully, lighting a candle (e.g., Advent, Hanukkah, Diwali), wearing a certain clothing item or religious garb, conducting a short reading, reciting or repeating a short blessing or phrase, listening quietly when someone else does a reading, joining in call-and-response ritual, and becoming familiar with religious images and iconography.
Preparation and ample practice can help ensure that all family members participate as fully as possible in the festivities. Consider the ways your child could participate meaningfully and then teach them skills, if necessary, to support their participation. This could include teaching your child the words to songs that will be sung or the responses needed for a call-and-response ritual. It may be important to ensure that your child understands how to handle religious items respectfully or be comfortable wearing specific items of clothing. Perhaps your child could give a short reading or recite a short blessing. Practice might be needed to light candles or to listen quietly during parts of a meal, family tradition, or a religious service. The prep work takes time, but could result in a family celebration that includes everyone. Some other skills to consider could be greeting guests and taking coats, bringing guests something to eat or drink, setting the table, clearing the table, washing dishes, and even announcing when it’s time for a group activity like, “Time for dessert,” “Let’s open the presents,” or “We’re going to break the wishbone!”
Prepare for Your Gathering
Before a gathering, try to prepare and orient your child to the experience. The holidays are already so different from your day-to-day routines, and not knowing what to expect can be overwhelming and/or difficult for an individual with autism. This can potentially lead to sensory overload, dysregulation, increased anxiety, tantrums, or other behaviors. Let’s review how you can get ahead of these situations.
Holidays usually mean seeing family or friends that you don’t typically see often. Having pictures of people who will be there, or of locations you will be going to, can help an individual with autism know what to expect and may ease anxiety. If discussing future events causes them anxiety, consider sharing these images on the day of the gathering.
Pictures can also be used to create a visual schedule of the events for the day. This can help individuals understand what to anticipate and make changes in their routine easier. Many families like yours already use some type of visual schedule, so this may not be unfamiliar to you. You can use a whiteboard, printed pictures, typed or handwritten words, or even a visual schedule that works for what you need. Visual schedules are particularly helpful as they can “provide clarity and structure that verbal instructions often lack” (Parker, 2025), but you can use whatever will make your family member feel the most at ease when talking about and moving through their day. Bringing the schedule with you will also be helpful if there are several parts to your day!
When making your schedule of events for your holiday gathering, provide as much detail as possible. Share the names of the people you will visit instead of just saying you are visiting relatives. Rather than saying, “We will sing songs,” try “We will sing songs with Grandma and Grandpa in the den” to specify the location and people involved. The more specific the information, the better. Embedding details into your preparation will help your child have a better idea of what to expect and hopefully make them feel more at ease throughout the day.
Communicate with the Host
Another key part of traveling for holiday gatherings is communicating with your host. If you are spending the holiday at someone else’s home, have a quick conversation with the host beforehand. Let them know that your family member might need flexibility with mealtime or a quiet spot to decompress if things become overstimulating. A little communication goes a long way, and most hosts are understanding and eager to help everyone feel comfortable. This is also a great way to have a game plan for overstimulation. Large gatherings and lively conversations can sometimes overwhelm individuals with autism. Plan for how to handle things if your family member starts to feel overstimulated. Set up a designated quiet area where they can retreat if they need a break. Whether it’s a guest bedroom, a cozy corner, sitting outside on the deck (weather permitting), or even the car if you are visiting family. Having a safe, quiet space to unwind can help keep everyone calm.
Include Your Child with Autism in Planning Efforts
Empower your child by fully involving them in the decision-making process if possible. Whenever there are choices to be made—big or small—invite their input. For example, ask what snacks they would like to have, what items they would like to bring, or even what music to listen to on the way to an event. These small decisions can give your child a sense of control in a day that might feel out of the ordinary. If your child enjoys novelty, consider offering new items that you have saved for them to choose from as well.
Maintain Consistency Where Possible
Needing to have consistency in their day-to-day routines is sometimes an important aspect of an individual with autism’s life. Consistency can simplify things and provide stability (Murray, 2022). During the holidays, there may be many parts of your day that will be out of the ordinary, unusual, or even unexpected, which can cause an individual with autism to feel stressed or have heightened anxiety (Staff, 2024). Keeping parts of your day unchanged by the holiday gathering can help set everyone up for success!
One way to maintain some level of consistency is to follow your usual routines. Holidays can be hectic, so try to keep some routines consistent. Many individuals with autism thrive on routine, so choose what to change carefully and stick with familiar patterns where possible. This can mean not rushing through your morning routine, trying to plan naps or rest time for their usual times, or even bringing pajamas to a later gathering to get children prepared for the night. Build these into any schedules you make. For example, highlighting that even though you’ll be away from home during dinner time, lunch will still be at home with their chosen food in their preferred seat.
Another way to maintain some consistency is to pack essentials for comfort if you are traveling. Everyone has things that make them feel more comfortable when they are away from home! Make sure to bring any comfort items your family member may need, such as a favorite toy or blanket, or a sensory item like noise-canceling headphones.
You can also have preferred foods available. If your family member is a particular eater, bring familiar foods they enjoy. This can encourage them to sit at the table with the family during mealtime, even if the location is different. You may also consider serving your child a regular, comforting meal earlier in the day. That way, they have had a chance to eat something filling, and you don’t have to worry if they are not interested in new or unfamiliar foods. A well-fed child will likely be in a better mood for the festivities! Holiday gatherings can also involve long periods between meals, so bringing snacks that your family member enjoys can be a lifesaver! Pack a few balanced snacks, like trail mix, apples with peanut butter, or a favorite granola bar, to keep them satisfied and happy throughout the day. You know your child best, so pack snacks that you are sure they will eat. This is also a great opportunity to involve them in the decision-making!
Around the Table
At many holiday gatherings or celebrations, mealtime is not only about eating, it is also the main event! Along with bringing preferred foods, consider what other aspects of mealtimes you may need to plan for or be mindful of.
One thing to consider is the length of a meal. Some holiday meals can last longer than a typical meal on an average day. Consider building in movement breaks, like going to a nearby park or for a walk in the yard, or even reassuring them that it is okay to be done with the meal before everyone else is. Practicing beforehand at home can also be a great way to expose your child to those new expectations. For example, you can help your child practice sitting for varying lengths of time, using utensils if they prefer to use their hands while eating, or even let them try a bit of the food that will be served, all in a stress-free environment (ABA Centers NJ, 2024).
Another thing to consider is avoiding food-related pressure. Many holiday gatherings are just one day, so if your family member does not want to eat anything from the holiday table, that is okay! As mentioned earlier, you can always bring comfort foods, so everyone is able to enjoy time together at the table. If you are hosting an event, you can ask ahead of time if there are any foods they would like to have included and try to involve them in food prep if they are interested – washing potatoes or mixing salad can be fun and give them a role in the meal. Keeping a relaxed attitude about food helps make the day more enjoyable for everyone.
Making New Memories
A final thing to consider is to focus on traditions beyond food. Holiday meals often involve dishes that are not part of a child’s usual diet, which can be overwhelming for individuals sensitive to new foods. Instead of making food the central focus, create other traditions that your family can look forward to. Watching the Thanksgiving Parade on TV, playing a holiday-specific game, making a snowman, or creating homemade decorations are all ways to celebrate the holidays without putting pressure on eating.
By preparing ahead, you can create an autism-friendly holiday gathering that everyone will enjoy. If your family member is receiving ABA therapy, your BCBA and team can also be a great resource in helping prepare for these joyous but out of routine occasions. Remember, your holiday gatherings do not need to be “perfect” to be meaningful. This year, let go of any expectations for a traditional holiday and embrace the moments of connection, the small traditions, the joyful memories to be made, and the joy that comes from spending time together. A little preparation goes a long way in helping create a holiday that’s enjoyable for every family member. Happy Holidays!
Inoa, A. (2025). Clinical Corner: How can we prepare our child with autism and family for holidays? Science in Autism Treatment, 22(11).
About the Author
Ashley Inoa, M.A., BCBA, LBA-NJ received a Graduate Certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis from the University of Northern Colorado in 2019. After receiving her Master’s in Forensic Psychology, she began as a behavior therapist in 2017, and quickly fell in love with ABA. She has since worked in home, school, and clinic settings, working with a wide range of individuals from each. She obtained her BCBA certification in 2022, and is currently working in school districts as a consulting BCBA, as well as continues to work in the home as a supervising BCBA with Graham Behavior Services.
