It’s our World Autism Awareness Day Sale! Save 20% and Get FREE Ground Shipping Today and Tomorrow ONLY

Promotion Email

Today is World Autism Awareness Day.  We hope you’ll join us, not just today, but all month long in spreading awareness. Different Roads is excited to feature special promotions, interactive giveaways, and an exclusive series of interviews with renowned experts in the field all throughout April.  If you haven’t already, we urge you to check out Mark Sundberg’s excellent interview on the Essentials of Verbal Behavior.

Today and tomorrow only, you can save 20%* and get free domestic ground shipping on your order with us online or over the phone. Just mention or apply our promo code AUTISM15 at checkout!

We’ll also be highlighting the efforts of parents, educators, and service providers, as well as some of our favorite teaching tools this month. Please follow us and get involved by using #AutismAwareness in your social media posts.

We look forward to seeing how you’re showing your awareness of autism this month!

*Promotion expires at 11:59pm EST on 04/03/2015. Promotional discount is not valid on past purchases and on Assessment Kits for the ABLLS®-R and VB-MAPP (DRK 700-703) or on multi-packs of VB-MAPP Protocols (DRB 682 & DRB 683). Free shipping offer is valid on domestic orders with ground shipping methods only. Be sure to select “Free UPS Ground” as the shipping method at checkout! Please email us with inquiries.

Autism Awareness Month Interview Series: Essentials of Verbal Behavior with Mark Sundberg, PhD, BCBA-D

Today marks the start of Autism Awareness Month. This year, we’re thrilled to introduce a series of exclusive interviews with renowned experts on topics that are of interest and importance to both parents and professionals working with students on the autism spectrum. We can’t think of a better way to kick off this series than with an information-packed interview with Mark Sundberg, PhD, BCBA on the Essentials of Verbal Behavior.

Dr. Sundberg hardly needs an introduction. He is the author of the VB-MAPP, Teaching Language to Children with Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, and co-author of the original ABLLS. Additionally, he has published over 50 professional papers and 4 book chapters and taught more than 80 university courses on behavior analysis, verbal behavior, sign language, and child development. He is a licensed psychologist with over 40 years of clinical experience.

We’re honored that Dr. Sundberg agreed to kick off Autism Awareness Month here at Different Roads and answer these questions on Verbal Behavior from BCBA Sam Blanco. A big thank you to Cindy Sundberg as well for her help with the interview.


Essentials of Verbal Behavior
with Mark Sundberg, PhD, BCBA-D

SAM BLANCO: There is often confusion about what differentiates ABA and Verbal Behavior. Can you tell us what Verbal Behavior is and how it relates to ABA?

MARK SUNDBERG: In the 1950s B. F. Skinner published the book Science and Human Behavior (1953). In that book he described how the basic concepts and principles of behavior analysis could be applied to human behavior. This book is credited for starting the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) (Morris, Smith, & Altus, 2005). A few years later Skinner published the book Verbal Behavior (1957) which contained a detailed analysis of language, a topic he addressed frequently in Science and Human Behavior and other writings. The verbal behavior (VB) approach (or ABA/VB) to autism treatment is based on these two Skinner books, and over 60 years of conceptual and empirical research that has evolved primarily from this original material.

Regarding the similarities and differences between ABA and VB, first they both make use of the same principles, procedures, and research basis of behavior analysis (Skinner, 1953). That is, they both use the basic procedures of prompting, fading, shaping, reinforcing, and so on (cf. Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007). The primary difference between the two approaches is the analysis of language that underlies the assessment and intervention programs. The VB approach makes use of Skinner’s (1957) behavioral analysis of language along with ABA principles and procedures, while most ABA and cognitive-based programs use the traditional expressive and receptive framework of language. Although this seems to be changing in that more ABA approaches and outcome studies are incorporating aspects of Skinner’s analysis (e.g., manding) into their intervention programs (e.g., the Sallows & Graupner, 2005 outcome study).

The main advantage of Skinner’s treatment of language for children with autism is that he breaks down expressive language more thoroughly and functionally. He suggests that the “mand,” “tact,” and “intraverbal,” are functionally different from each other because they are controlled by different environmental variables. For example, the mand is under the functional control of motivational variables (what a child wants), while the tact is under the functional control of nonverbal discriminative stimuli (what a child sees, hears, etc., but may not want). It is not uncommon to encounter children with autism who have dozens of words as tacts, but no words as mands (their mands may occur in the form of tantrums or other negative behavior). In the traditional analysis of expressive language this distinction between the mand and the tact is not made, thus a resulting intervention program may not completely or accurately address a child’s needs. These important differences in verbal skills are not typically assessed by most of the common assessment tools used for children with autism (Esch, LaLonde, & Esch, 2010). For more details on the value of incorporating Skinner’s (1957) analysis of verbal behavior into ABA programs, the reader is referred to Petursdottir and Carr (2011) and Sundberg and Michael (2001).

SB: Can you tell us a bit about developing the VB-MAPP? It must have been quite an undertaking!

MS: I’ve been working on applying Skinner’s (1957) analysis of verbal behavior to language assessment and intervention since the 1970s when I was one of Jack Michael’s graduate students at Western Michigan University. This topic became the foundation of my doctoral dissertation (Sundberg, 1980), and has been the main focus of my professional career. The VB-MAPP was designed to be an assessment tool that is comprehensive, precise, developmentally matched, and functionally valuable to the child. As a result, the information obtained from the VB-MAPP can assist in IEP planning and help to establish intervention priorities, and serve as a curriculum guide for the program. The VB-MAPP is also designed to serve as a dependent measure in empirical research, and outcome research. In addition, problem behavior and various other “barriers” impact learning and should be assessed along with language, learning, and social skills. If left unattended, these barriers can slow down a child’s skill acquisition or possibly bring any gains to a complete standstill, and leave the child susceptible to other problems. Thus, the VB-MAPP also contains an assessment of 24 barriers that might affect a child (e.g., escape and avoidance, prompt dependency, demand weakens motivation).

The VB-MAPP has greatly benefited over the years from the many parents and professionals who have provided feedback or conducted field-testing with typical children and children with special needs in schools, homes, clinics, and community settings. This feedback and field-testing provided us with a wealth of information that influenced many aspects of the VB-MAPP, such as checks for generalization throughout the assessment, tips for the tester, more information in the Guide about the skills being assessed, and a placement program to provide general direction for intervention and IEP development. Our own field-testing activities also helped us with many of the improvements, such as the refinement of the sequence and validity of the intraverbal assessment (e.g., Sundberg & Sundberg, 2011), and separating play skills into independent play and social play for a tighter assessment of this area. In addition, there is now a more extensive body of conceptual and empirical research that has advanced our overall understanding of language acquisition and the treatment of autism.

We were also fortunate to have Barbara Esch, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BCBA-D include her Early Echoic Skills Assessment to the VB-MAPP. Her tool presents a state-of-the-art method to quickly assess a child’s echoic repertoire, and it fits well within the VB-MAPP. The VB-MAPP also contains a short transition assessment that resulted from many years of consulting to special education classrooms and attending IEPs. We thought it would be useful to create a piece of the assessment that could help to determine what type of educational format might best suit an individual child (e.g., 1:1 vs. small group instruction, inclusion). The targeted milestones in the VB-MAPP have been carefully chosen and matched to those of typically developing children, thus providing a clearer picture of how a child with autism is performing. We aligned the VB-MAPP with standardized, and well-respected assessments, including the APES, Bayley-III, PLS-IV, and the Vineland-II. As a result of these various features, the VB-MAPP moves beyond just an assessment of basic skills to a more thorough and functional assessment of the whole child.

The work on the VB-MAPP and making ABA and verbal behavior understandable and accessible continues to be an on-going process. After the VB-MAPP was published in late 2008, we received interest from professionals wanting electronic versions and foreign language translations. The VB-MAPP is now also available as an app and web-based format, as well as in several different languages including Chinese, French, Italian, Polish, Russian, and Spanish, with other languages in various stages of development.

SB: For a learner who is just developing language, what does research show is the appropriate developmental order for teaching verbal skills? (For example, do you teach “I want _______” to a learner who only has ten words?)

MS: The design of the VB-MAPP directly addresses the issue of using typical developmental milestones as a framework for the assessment and the intervention program. For example, it is common to have adjectives, prepositions, and answering WH questions on an IEP for a child who may only have a 30-word vocabulary. Developmentally, that small of a vocabulary size indicates that the child may not be ready for tasks that require the child to modify nouns with their properties or location, let alone answer WH questions about them. Likewise, adding carrier phrases such as “I want” to a mand may be of little value to a child who only has ten words. The child would probably benefit more from first learning more mands and tacts. There are many aspects to developing a child’s verbal skills, even though the learning patterns demonstrated by typical children can guide us, each child is different and still requires an individual analysis of what curriculum sequence might work best for him.

SB: Why is it important for a learner to have a certain number of mands before moving on to other verbal skills?

MS: There is no magic number of mands. My point (from Skinner) has been that manding is the only type of verbal behavior that directly benefits the child. Mands allow a child to get access to things and activities that are important to him. That’s motivating for the child, and increases chances that he will initiate verbal interactions and emit language in a more natural way, as well as participate in other instructional activities. The other types of verbal behavior (e.g., echoic, tacting) don’t have the same effect. I have found repeatedly that it is often quite easy to establish a mand for a nonverbal child (especially using sign language or PECS), and it becomes much easier to use this newly established rapport to teach the child other skills. A variety of different verbal skills are necessary for a functional communication repertoire. Sooner or later the child must learn other language skills such as tacts, intraverbals, and listener skills. My tendency to encourage practitioners to emphasize the mand has been mainly due to its value to the child, but also to offset the historical tendency by many ABA programs to ignore the mand, teach it late in an intervention program, not appreciate the difference between motivational control and stimulus control, or assume that the mand will just emerge from other types of training.

SB: How do you measure verbal behavior?

MS: Verbal behavior can be measured by using many of the same recording systems common to behavior analysis (e.g., Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007), such as rate, frequency, time samples, discontinuous measurement, etc. However, it is important to carefully identify all the antecedent variables that are involved. For example, it is not enough to simply record that a child says the word “ball” 10 times in a 1-hour period. The measurement system, like all ABC recording systems, must also include the antecedent sources of control that evoked that response. If the ball is present, the response is part tact, if an EO for the ball is present, the response is part mand, if an echoic prompt is given, the response is part echoic, and so on. A child who emits “ball” 10 times as an echoic is not behaving in the same way as a child who emits “ball” 10 times as a mand or tact. In short, a verbal behavior measurement system not only records the topography of responses, but their function as well. Thus, there may be several different data sheets that all measure a child’s acquisition of the word “ball,” but each differ in important ways (e.g., “ball” as a tact vs. “ball” as an intraverbal). More detail on measuring and recording verbal behavior can be found throughout the VB-MAPP Guide, as well as in Sundberg & Partington (1998).

SB: One resource I frequently use is the 300 Common Nouns list. Can you talk about how this list is useful?

MS: The goal of the list is to take some of the guesswork and randomness out of selecting new targets for vocabulary development by providing a group of common nouns that young typically developing children might acquire. In addition, the lists are designed to track the acquisition of a new word (e.g., spoon) across a variety of conditions. For example, there are columns for both tacting and listener skills, as well as for generalization and more complex demonstrations of a skill. The list also provides the basis for moving an individual word to more complex types of verbal behavior. For example, when adding a verb or an adjective to a noun (e.g., “white plastic spoon”) staff should cautiously select nouns that have been acquired and generalized as identified by the data entered on the list. Movement to intraverbal and LRFFC tasks should also involve nouns that have been mastered and the list provides an initial guide for making this progression. There is a common verbs list as well posted in the downloads section at www.avbpress.com.

SB: What recommendations do you have for a parent or practitioner who is first encountering verbal behavior?

MS: Language and the ability to communicate is perhaps the single most important aspect of human behavior, correspondingly, it is quite complex. Language is a part of everyday life and can be taught not only in formal (discrete) sessions, but in everyday activities including play, bath time, arts and crafts, in the grocery store, and while out on a family drive. Our book “Teaching Language to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Disabilities” (Sundberg & Partington, 1998) was designed to be an easy-to-understand application of Skinner’s analysis, and I would recommend that book, or other user-friendly VB books (Barbera, 2007; Weiss & Demiri, 2011). In addition, there are websites that contain tips, materials, data sheets, YouTube videos, and a variety of other material that can be useful for helping parents and teachers to understand how to apply a behavioral analysis of language in an ABA program.

ABOUT MARK SUNDBERG, PHD, BCBA-D

Mark SundbergMark L. Sundberg, Ph.D., BCBA-D received his doctorate degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from Western Michigan University (1980), under the direction of Dr. Jack Michael. He is the author of the Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP), and co-author of the original ABLLS and the book Teaching Language to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Disabilities. He has published over 50 professional papers and 4 book chapters. He is the founder and past editor of the journal The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, a twice past-president of The Northern California Association for Behavior Analysis, a past-chair of the Publication Board of ABAI, and has served on the Board of Directors of the B. F. Skinner Foundation. Dr. Sundberg has given hundreds of conference presentations and workshops nationally and internationally, and taught 80 college and university courses on behavior analysis, verbal behavior, sign language, and child development. He is a licensed psychologist with over 40 years of clinical experience who consults for public and private schools that serve children with autism. His awards include the 2001 “Distinguished Psychology Department Alumnus Award” from Western Michigan University, and the 2013 “Jack Michael Outstanding Contributions in Verbal Behavior Award” from ABAI’s Verbal Behavior Special Interest Group.

References
Barbera, M. L. (2007). The verbal behavior approach. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2007). Applied behavior analysis (2nd ed.).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice-Hall.

Esch, B. E., LaLonde, K. B., & Esch, J. W. (2010). Speech and language assessment: A verbal behavior analysis. The Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and Applied Behavior Analysis, 5, 166-191.

Morris, E. K., Smith, N. G., & Altus, D. E. (2005). B. F. Skinner’s contributions to applied behavior analysis. The Behavior Analyst, 28, 99-131.

Petursdottir A. I., & Carr J. E. (2011). A review of recommendations for sequencing receptive and expressive language instruction. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 44, 859–876.

Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. New York: Free Press.

Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal behavior. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

Sallows, G. O., & Graupner, T. D. (2005). Intensive behavioral treatment for children with autism: Four-year outcome and predictors. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 110,
417-438.

Sundberg, M. L. (1980). Developing a verbal repertoire using sign language and Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Western Michigan University.

Sundberg, M. L., & Michael, J. (2001). The benefits of Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior for children with autism. Behavior Modification, 25, 698-724.

Sundberg, M. L., & Partington, J. W. (1998). Teaching language to children with autism or other developmental disabilities. Concord, CA: AVB Press.

Sundberg M. L., & Sundberg, C. A. (2011). Intraverbal behavior and verbal conditional discriminations in typically developing children and children with autism. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 27, 23–43.

Weiss, M. J., & Demiri, V. (2011). Jumpstarting communication skills in children with autism. Bethesda, MD: Woodbine House.

April is Autism Awareness Month!

April is Autism Awareness Month, which means we have a bunch of fun things planned out all month long for you!  You can stay up to date on social media with all of our special offers and promotions by liking our Facebook page, following us on Twitter, or subscribing to our email updates for announcements of special promotions, giveaways, exclusive articles, and more. We’re really excited to bring you a series of exclusive articles by Mark Sundberg, Mary Jane Weiss, and Gary Mayerson addressing critical questions and issues facing the autism community.

And we’re always thrilled to see engagement from our community of parents, professionals, and others. We hope you’ll share how you’re showing your awareness of autism this month. Just mention @difflearn and hashtag #AutismAwareness in your tweets and posts to join in on the raising awareness!

Don’t forget—you can also Light it Up Blue with Autism Speaks on World Autism Awareness Day (April 2nd, 2015). Register now and help shine the light on autism!

Temple Grandin and Dr. Jed Baker to Speak at Upcoming Autism Conference in White Plains, NY – April, 24

10409199_10153276032427780_6229927242485176303_nTemple Grandin and Jed Baker are  speaking at this one day conference brought to you by Future Horizons.
Dr. Grandin describes the challenges she has faced and offers ideas on how others dealing with autism can meet these obstacles and improve the quality of their lives. Backed by her personal experience and evidence-based research, Temple shares her valuable insights on a wide variety of topics, and offers useful do’s and don’ts.

 

Dr. Baker is a behavioral consultant for several New Jersey school districts where, nearly two decades ago, he organized a group to help children with social communication problems.

This conference is intended for family members and professionals. ASHA, APA, AOTA, and NAPNAP Credits are offered and APA Continuing Education Credit = 6.

For more information, visit the Future Horizons’ Website here.

Pick of the Week: NEW Curriculum – “Teaching the Basics of Theory of Mind”

Using principles from cognitive behavioral therapy, this evidence-based curriculum Teaching the Basics of Theory of Mind by Kirstina Ordetx, PhD, is designed to enhance social understanding in children with autism or other social challenges. With lesson plans, activity ideas, worksheets, reproducible flashcards, and reinforcement activities for use at home, this curriculum is ideal for use with children who demonstrate challenges with the prerequisite skills, leading to successful social relationships and situations.

This week only, you can save 15%* on your order of Teaching the Basics of Theory of Mind by using our promo code TOM15 when you check out online or over the phone with us!

This curriculum includes 42 unlabeled Feelings Photo Cards (Student’s set), 42 labeled Feelings Photo Cards (Instructor’s set), 28 Feelings Word Cards, 8 Follow the Eye Picture Cards, 12 Riddle Cards, 4 Picture Clue Cards, 8 “As If” Cards, 7 Point of View Prompt Cards, and 9 Me vs. We Cards.

*Offer is valid until 11:59pm EST on April 7th, 2015. Not compatible with any other offers. Be sure there are no spaces or dashes in your code at check out!

Free Weekly “Teens Social Skills Group” at YAI in New York Begins in April

The YAI Autism Center in New York City will be hosting free social skills groups every Thursday for teens aged 15–18 years and on the autism spectrum starting on April 23, 2015. This social skills group will promote positive peer relationships among teens through role playing, recognizing emotions, social stories, and modeling. This group is ideal for teens who can independently engage in conversation.

Group Information
Time: Every Thursday from 4:00–5:00 pm EST
Location: 460 W. 34th Street, New York, NY 10001

For intake information, please contact Michelle Lang at (212) 273-6238 or at michelle.lang@yai.org.

Pick of the Week: NEW! Question Challenge Card Game

The Question Challenge Card Game is an expressive and receptive language card game that targets social and reasoning skills in young learners. This game will target skills in staying calm through self-talk, predicting, questioning in conversation, determining perspective, inferencing, cognitive flexibility, intonation, body language, and more. As they play the game, students will practice skills necessary for effective communication and problem solving.

To play the game, one player turns over a Challenge Card and reads it out loud, stating which player will answer and how many questions he or she will answer. The player asked to answer then flips over a Question Card and answers the question on it. If the student answers appropriately, he or she spins the electronic spinner and receives the lighted number of tokens. The player with the most tokens at the end of the game wins!

This week, you can also save 15%* on your set of the Question Challenge Card Game by using our promo code QCGAME at check-out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Includes 300 color-coded Question Cards, 50 Challenge Cards, 225 Bingo Chips, and 1 Electronic Spinner.

Don’t forget to save 15%* this week on the Question Challenge Card Game by using promo code QCGAME when you check out online or over the phone with us!

*Offer is valid until 11:59pm EST on March 31st, 2015. Not compatible with any other offers. Be sure there are no spaces or dashes in your code at check out!

Volunteers Needed to Test Database of Colleges for Students for Autism

ASD-DR.com is launching a college-search resource to help families with autistic students. There are many online search sites with information about colleges, but few of them include information on the support services available at these institutions. This new resource allows parents and other caregivers of students with autism to search through a database of over 300 colleges across the U.S. with autism services.

They are looking for volunteers to help in developing this database by previewing the content and answering the following questions:

  1. What additional information would you like?
  2. What search options should be added?
  3. What information is not needed?

Be sure to sign up by March 30. The database will be available only for those who have a log-in and password, which Dawn Marcotte will provide on April 1, 2015. Those interested should sign up at www.asd-dr.com.

ASD-DR Volunteer Request

 

Guest Article: Tips on Encouraging Picky Eaters

This week, we’re thrilled to share some exclusive tips from Julia Singer Katz at the Kutest Kids Early Intervention Center on how to deal with picky eaters, from using colors and schedules to modeling good habits.

Don’t let picky eating ruin meal time or divide your family at the dinner table. Encouraging healthy eating habits with a stubborn child requires patience with a firm touch. Here at Kutest Kids Early Intervention Center, our therapists are all too familiar with this phenomenon and would like share some common tips. Begin by setting the stage for healthy choices, thereby helping your child overcome their picky habits with a few key strategies.

Start With a Schedule.  Hungry kids are often less picky than those that have been snacking on junk foods all day. Scheduling snack time – and sticking to it – ensures your kids are hungry when a healthy meal is served. Don’t just schedule snacks, though. Having breakfast, lunch and dinner at regular times further encourages kids to eat only when the food is available.

Skip the Junk.  A pantry or fridge full of unhealthy options further encourages picky eating. What kid is going to fill up on broccoli when they know there are ice cream and chips just a few steps away? If the only options are healthy options, a hungry child is more likely to choose those with few complaints. Keep the healthy snacks accessible – cut up carrot and veggie sticks and keep raw fruit washed and cubed for easy serving.

Add Some Healthy Elements.  Even the most adventurous eater may turn up their nose to a completely unfamiliar food. Instead of making a full change out of the gate, begin by introducing healthier elements to their favorite dishes. Try oven-baked chicken fingers with a whole-meal coating instead of processed and fried nuggets. Mix in some shredded zucchini with their macaroni and cheese. Add fruit to a no-sugar cereal. Small changes can win over a picky eater.

Eat the Colors.  Most kids respond well to games and challenges. Brightly colored foods, such as vegetables and fruits are healthier than most dull and bland-colored foods. Make a game out of eating as many colors in a day as possible! This may encourage an otherwise picky eater to eat more vegetables and to try new foods.

Loosen Up the Rules.  A strict clean-your-plate rule does more harm than good. In the end, it just encourages over-eating while also making the dinner table a place of stress and tears. Allow your kids to decide when they are full. If they want a snack later, it’s not an issue if you have a scheduled after-dinner snack time, and they only have access to healthy snacks.

Model Good Eating Habits.  Often, picky eating is a learned behavior. Only serve foods that you will eat, and don’t complain about any food within the child’s hearing. Have meals at the table, and never encourage mindless snacking while watching television.

Many kids naturally go through phases of picky eating. Keeping unhealthy food to a minimum and only serving it as an occasional treat will help your family weather these finicky moments.

WRITTEN BY JULIA SINGER KATZ, MSS, LSW

Julia Singer Katz MSS, LSW is the Supervisor of Clinical Program Development at the Kutest Kids Early Intervention Agency, an all-inclusive therapy center in Philadelphia. She’s very passionate about helping each child reach his or her fullest potential and making a difference in the community.

NEW Product Spotlight: Essential for Living – A Functional Skills Assessment & Curriculum

This week, we’re thrilled to introduce you to a new functional skills assessment and curriculum by Patrick McGreevy, PhD, BCBA-D, Troy Fry, BCBA, and Colleen Cornwall, EdD, BCBA-D. Essential for Living is a functional skills curriculum, assessment, and skill tracking instrument for students with moderate-to-severe disabilities. The program is based on concepts, principles, and empirically-validated procedures from Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and from B.F. Skinner’s ground-breaking analysis of verbal behavior.

This week, we’re offering FREE DOMESTIC GROUND SHIPPING* on your order of the Essential for Living: Professional Practitioner’s Handbook and its accompanying scoring manuals, the ARP (Assessment & Record of Progress Manual) and the EARP (Essential Assessment and Record of Progress Manual). Just mention or apply promo code EFLPROMO at check-out to redeem this offer! Be sure to select your Free UPS Ground shipping option before you check out.

The Essential for Living: Professional Practitioner’s Handbook is both an assessment and a curriculum. It can be used to determine the current performance level of each learner to conduct a curriculum-based assessment. This instrument is also used to develop appropriate IEP goals, and objectives for individual education or support plans and to track skill acquisition and problem behavior. Essential for Living permits teachers to record and track very small increments of learner progress, including the extent to which generalization has occurred. The program is composed of functional skills and behaviors which are essential for effective daily living and which result in an improved quality of life for children and adults. It is especially useful for learners with limited communication repertoires, minimal daily living skills, or severe problem behavior.

Users must purchase the Professional Practitioner’s Handbook in order to implement the Essential for Living program, and then have the option to use of one of the scoring manuals below.

The EARP (Essential Assessment and Record of Progress for the Essential Eight Skills and Problem Behavior) is a 26-page manual that focuses on the eight critical skills that all learners will need as adults, covering must-have indications of interest, requests, and related listener responses; following directions related to health and safety; daily living skills related to health and safety; and tolerating skills related to health and safety.

 

The ARP (The Assessment and Record of Progress Manual) is the complete assessment and record for thousands of skills that are part of everyday living, including the eight essential skills. Users wishing to complete a full assessment should purchase the ARP. The ARP allows instructors, speech-language pathologists, behavior analysts, care providers, and parents to record the performance of individual learners on assessments, and to then track their subsequent progress on any of the skills covered in Essential for Living, along with any problem behaviors that have been assessed and for which a program has begun.

The ARP covers the following Domains: Requests and Related Listener Responses; Listener Responses, Names, and Descriptions; Answers to Questions and Conversations; Daily Living and Related Skills; Functional and Academic Skills; Tolerating Skills and Eggshells; and Tool Skills and Component Skills.

Users should also note that Essential for Living is not a developmental instrument and it is neither age, nor grade-referenced. For that reason, it works well as a complementary tool for the VB-MAPP by Mark Sundberg which does contain developmental levels that are age-referenced. Click here for how to choose which instrument to use and how the VB-MAPP and Essential for Living can be used together.

Don’t forget to mention or apply our promo code EFLPROMO at check-out this week to receive FREE DOMESTIC GROUND SHIPPING* on your order of the entire (or any part of) Essential for Living curriculum and assessment!

*This offer applies only to Domestic Ground Shipping options. Please be sure to select Free UPS Ground shipping at check-out. Offer applies to only orders containing the Essential for Living: Professional Practitioner’s Handbook (DRB 143), the ARP Manual (DRB 144), and the EARP Manual (DRB 145). Promotion lasts through March 25th, 2015.

 

 

Posted in ABA