Tag Archives: autism education

Volunteers Needed to Test Database of Colleges for Students for Autism

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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

 

Pick of the Week: “On My Own” Activity Kits

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Teach important daily living, vocational, and social skills that pave the way to independence and success to young learners with these brand new On My Own activity kits. Early learners can follow the visual cues and step-by-step directions to complete activities and art projects related to a variety of skills in daily life, such as cooking, setting the table, and creating art projects that develop gross and fine motor skills.

This week only, use our promo code ONMYOWN to take 15%* off either the On My Own: Year-Round Art Fun or the On My Own: Art, Cooking & Life Skills learning kits.

In On My Own: Art, Cooking & Life Skills, each activity is shown completed and is followed by a checklist of materials along with the directions. Young learners will be able to complete the tasks independently as they develop important vocational and recreational skills.

In On My Own: Year-Round Art Fun, learners will get to complete various arts and crafts projects independently, pairing visual cues and text from 30 different activity cards, while gaining confidence.

Don’t forget to mention or apply our promo code ONMYOWN this week only to save 15%* on either or both of these learning kits when you check out online or over the phone with us!

Pick of the Week: Assessing Language and Learning with Pictures (ALL PICS)

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Assessing Language and Learning with Pictures (ALL PICS) is an assessment tool designed to be used in conjunction Dr. Mark Sundberg’s Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP). ALL PICS was designed by behavior analysts who specialize in the application of Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior and have extensive experience in assessing verbal behavior with assessments such as the VB-MAPP.

This week only, take 15%* off ($90 savings!) your order of the ALL PICS assessment program by using our special promo code ALLPICS at check-out!

ALL PICS was designed to make administration of the VB-MAPP more accurate, efficient, and cost-effective for schools, clinics, agencies, and private practitioners. ALL PICS contains all of the 2-D pictures necessary to administer the VB-MAPP Milestones.

ALL PICS consists of 3 spiral bound books, with pre-arranged fields of high-resolution images that correspond with the VB-MAPP specifications. While conducting a verbal behavior assessment, the evaluator using ALL PICS can quickly record responses on the corresponding downloadable data sheets and then turn from one page of the book to the next. For visual tasks, a corresponding box of labeled flashcards is included, permitting the tester to quickly obtain all cards needed for each milestone without the need to search for cards.

The unique benefits of using ALL PICS during verbal behavior assessment include:

  • Includes 275 labeled, high-resolution flashcards for visual performance assessment that correspond to each page of the visual performance book, saving time and increasing efficiency
  • Corresponding, free data sheets that can be downloaded for each learner
  • The opportunity to test generalization with novel pictures, as opposed to familiar flashcards that the learner has seen many times
  • Team members with limited training in behavior analysis can play an active role in the assessment process, reading from the scripts on the data sheets
  • Comprehensive image list of over 1,200 common items that can be used to assess the number of tacts or listener responses in a learner’s repertoire

Don’t forget to use our promo code ALLPICS this week only to save 15%* on your purchase of this comprehensive verbal behavior assessment tool!

*Offer is valid until 11:59pm EDT on March 17th, 2015. Not compatible with any other offers. Be sure there are no spaces or dashes in your code at check out!

“Night of Too Many Stars” Airs on Comedy Central, Mar. 8, 2015

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This year’s “Night of Too Many Stars: America Comes Together for Autism Programs”, a big TV charity event for autism programs, hosted by Jon Stewart on Comedy Central, will air on Sunday, March 8, 2015. Be sure to tune in at 8:00pm ET/PT. Live phone banks manned by celebrities including Larry David, Martin Short, and Larry Willmore will also be available during the event. Funds raised by the live event will go directly to programs to help kids with autism and other developmental delays immediately.

Since 2006, “Night of Too Many Stars” has raised over $18 million to benefit autism programs around the nation. In 2012, “Night of Too Many Stars,” gave almost $4 million in grants to 50 programs in 20 states through the efforts of partner organization New York Collaborates for Autism.

We had the hilarious pleasure of attending the taping of the show last Saturday, February 28, 2015 at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. Members of the audience had the opportunity to interact with performers like John Oliver, Paul Rudd, Sarah Silverman, and Louis CK on stage to raise funds and awareness for autism. We’re incredibly grateful to Julie at Different Roads, who gave us the opportunity to attend such a memorable and charitable event!

For more information about the event and submitting donations to New York Collaborates for Autism, you can visit www.cc.com/toomanystars.

Tip of the Week: Recognizing Fad Autism Treatments

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Learning that your child has autism is incredibly overwhelming. You’re under intense stress to make the best decisions possible for your child, and to do so quickly. Add to the fact that autism is a popular topic in the news and social media, so tips and quick fixes frequently show up in headlines and news feeds. Autism is considered to be a fad treatment magnet, and while some of the fad treatments are ineffective, others are flat out dangerous. How is it possible to parse through all this to find reliable information? Here are a few tips to help you out:

  1. Avoid products or organizations that promise a cure or rapid progress. All children respond to intervention at different rates. There is no known cure for autism, and there is no “quick fix” either.
  2. Avoid products or organizations that use scare tactics. Anyone who is trying to scare you into using their products or services does not have your best interest at heart. Instilling fear in parents can make it more difficult to make knowledgeable choices and increase the pressure already felt. Scare tactics are generally used to encourage you to make a snap decision, often at a high monetary cost.
  3. Avoid products or organizations that utilize subjective testimonials instead of data-driven science to measure progress. Testimonials may be compelling, but without scientific research it’s impossible to know what actually caused progress. Research should be completed that illustrates an intervention or treatment is directly linked to progress.
  4. Avoid products or organizations that advertise easy solutions which don’t require a professional’s help. Many of the behaviors presented with autism are incredibly challenging. Approaching those issues without the assistance of a trained professional can be detrimental or potentially dangerous for your child, especially when your child exhibits self-injurious behaviors.
  5. Avoid products or organizations that do not measure progress for the intervention being used. It should be very clear what the expected outcome of a product or treatment is, as well as how it will be measured. Relying on informal reports from either parents and/or teachers does not supply valid information about the effectiveness of the product or treatment.
  6. Be wary of treatments that require “faith” to work. If a treatment is not working, it is not because you didn’t believe in it, it’s because something in the treatment needs to be changed to meet the unique needs of your child.

So where can you find valid information? The Association for Science in Autism Treatment is a reliable source for up-to-date information about the many types of treatment available for individuals with autism. The website is packed with useful information, but you may find “Questions to Ask Marketers of Autism Interventions” especially helpful as you make decisions about your child’s treatment. You may also want to pick up Sabrina Freeman’s book, The Complete Guide to Autism Treatments: A Parent’s Handbook: Make Sure Your Child Gets What Works!

 

WRITTEN BY SAM BLANCO, MSED, BCBA

Sam is an ABA provider for students ages 3-12 in NYC. Working in education for ten years with students with Autism Spectrum Disorders and other developmental delays, Sam has developed strategies for achieving a multitude of academic, behavior, and social goals. Sam is currently pursuing her PhD in Applied Behavior Analysis at Endicott College.

Pick of the Week: NEW Workbook on Developing Receptive & Expressive Language Skills

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Help young learners develop expressive and receptive language skills with this comprehensive workbook filled with 33 reproducible lessons! This week only, you can also take 15%* off your order of “Developing Receptive & Expressive Language Skills in Young Learners” by SLP Jean Gilliam DeGaetano. Just use our promo code JDGLANG during check-out online or over the phone with us.

Each lesson in this workbook is accompanied by an Instructor Worksheet page that covers 4 sections of questions involving answering “Yes” or “No,” responding verbally, or responding non-verbally by pointing to the correct answer. “Developing Receptive & Expressive Language Skills in Young Learners” is a great workbook that provides a variety of techniques, with adequate repetition within each to develop receptive and expressive language skills in both verbal and non-verbal children, mainstream ages 3–7.

Don’t forget to apply our promo code JDGLANG at check-out to save 15%* on your order of “Developing Receptive & Expressive Language Skills in Young Learners” this week!

*Offer is valid until 11:59pm EST on March 10th, 2015. Not compatible with any other offers. Be sure there are no spaces or dashes in your code at check out!

Pick of the Week: NEW! Photographic Matching Cards

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One set of cards, so many different skills to work on! Photographic Matching Cards contains 260 cards – 130 unique cards with an identical match – that cover 12 basic categories: Actions, Clothes, Colors, Emotions, Everyday Objects, Farm Animals, Foods, Pets, Shapes, Toys, Transportation, and Wild Animals.

This week only, take 15% off* your set of Photographic Matching Cards by using our promo code MATCH15 at check-out!

DRC_057_Photographic_Matching_Cards

These cards are ideal for developing expressive and receptive language skills, as well as sorting and classifying skills. Students who are ready can use the cards to stimulate discussion and conversation. The cards portray children in a variety of settings, full of real life and childhood enchantment. Each of the 260 cards measures 5½” x 8½”.

Don’t forget to apply or mention promo code MATCH15 to save 15%* when you purchase your set of Photographic Matching Cards this week online or over the phone with us!

*Offer is valid until 11:59pm EST on March 3rd, 2015. Not compatible with any other offers. Be sure there are no spaces or dashes in your code at check out!

Tip of the Week: Use Noncontingent Reinforcement – A Powerful Addition to Your Intervention

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Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) is the presentation of reinforcement independent of behavior, and there are many studies out there that demonstrate it can have a significant impact on behavior.

Before we get to how you can use it with children with autism or other developmental disabilities, it’s important to recognize that noncontingent reinforcement happens all the time with all of us. A few common examples:

  • You’re walking alongside your child. Your child reaches up and grabs your hand. This is a behavior you like, but it did not occur because of any one behavior you exhibited, such as reaching for their hand or requesting their hand. They just did it spontaneously. This probably changes your behavior: you may smile, initiate a conversation, or give their hand a special squeeze.
  • It’s snack time at your preschool. You realize the bag of popcorn you’re giving for snack is almost empty, so you give each student a few extra kernels of popcorn. They did not “earn” it for good behavior, it was just a little extra reinforcement. This may change your students’ behavior: they may sit still a little longer as they eat the additional snack, say thank you, or exclaim, “More popcorn! Yay!”
  • A common example in preschool is placing a child on your lap during story time. They didn’t earn it, but it may change their behavior. For example, instead of calling out to get your attention, they may sit quietly for the duration of the story.
  • You’ve come home from a stressful day at work. You want to just sit down and veg in front of the TV for a few minutes, but discover that your husband has cooked dinner. This may change your behavior: you may sit down at the dining room table or give him a hug. Again, you didn’t exhibit a specific behavior that “earned” you dinner; it was presented independent of your behavior.

Noncontingent reinforcement can be a powerful addition to your interventions. But it looks a bit different when you’re using it as part of your intervention. You want to provide continuous access to the reinforcer maintaining the problem behavior so that the problem behavior becomes unnecessary. The preschooler sitting on the teacher’s lap is an excellent example, because the child has continuous access to the teacher’s attention. This can be faded over time, but can be an effective starting point for reducing problem behaviors when used in conjunction with other strategies.

Research has shown that noncontingent attention can decrease destructive behavior, noncontingent juice can decrease rumination, noncontingent access to preferred items can decrease inappropriate mealtime behavior, and noncontingent social interaction can decrease vocal stereotypy (Hanley, Piazza, & Fisher, 1997; Kliebert & Tiger, 2011; Gonzalez, Rubio, & Taylor, 2014; Enloe & Rapp, 2013). There is much more research out there that demonstrates that noncontingent reinforcement can impact behavior. Here are a few tips for using it:

  1. Make sure it matches the function. If your student is engaging in destructive behavior in order to escape a task, then providing noncontingent attention is unlikely to produce the behavior change you are expecting.
  2. Decide on a method for providing noncontingent reinforcement. Will you provide it continuously (like the preschooler sitting in the teacher’s lap) or provide it on an interval schedule (such as providing verbal attention every 2 minutes)?
  3. Take data! You need to know if the noncontingent reinforcement is actually decreasing the problem behavior or increasing the desired behavior. Define the behavior you want to change and then take data on its frequency, rate, or duration.
  4. Account for other students’ needs. If you are only using noncontingent reinforcement for one student, you need to be prepared to address the needs of other students. For example, if just one preschooler gets to sit in the teacher’s lap every day at story time, you may see an increase in problem behaviors from the other preschoolers in the class.
  5. Plan ahead! Our ultimate goal is that our learners be as independent as possible. Plan for how to fade your intervention over time.
  6. Take a look at the research. There are a few studies cited at the end of this article, but you may be able to find research simply by searching for “noncontingent” and the name of your problem behavior.

Noncontingent reinforcement is much easier to implement than many interventions that are available and can have a huge impact on your learner’s behaviors.

References
Enloe, K., & Rapp, J. (2013). Effects of noncontingent social interaction on immediate and subsequent engagement in vocal and motor stereotypy in children with autism. Behavior Modification , 38(3), 374-391.

Gonzalez, M., Rubio, E., & Taylor, T. (2014). Inappropriate mealtime behavior: The effects of noncontingent access to preferred tangibles on responding in functional analyses. Research in Developmental Disabilities , 35(12), 3655-3664.

Hanley, G. P., Piazza, C. C., & Fisher, W. W. (1997). Noncontingent presentation of attention and alternative stimuli in the treatment of attention-maintained destructive behavior. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis , 30(2), 229-237.

Kliebert, M. L., & Tiger, J. H. (2011). Direct and distal effects of noncontingent juice on rumination exhibitied by a child with autism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis , 44(4), 955-959.

WRITTEN BY SAM BLANCO, MSED, BCBA

Sam is an ABA provider for students ages 3-12 in NYC. Working in education for ten years with students with Autism Spectrum Disorders and other developmental delays, Sam has developed strategies for achieving a multitude of academic, behavior, and social goals. Sam is currently pursuing her PhD in Applied Behavior Analysis at Endicott College.

Guest Article: “Speech-Language Pathology and ABA – Can’t We All Just Get Along?” by Danielle McCormick, MA, CCC-SLP

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We’re excited to share with you an exclusive article “Speech Language Pathology and Applied Behavior Analysis: Can’t We All Just Get Along?” by co-founder of Bridge Kids of New York, Danielle McCormick, MA, CCC-SLP, with contributions by Ashley Stahl, MSEd. In this article, Danielle shares with us her quirky and humorous opinions on the importance of combining traditional speech-language pathology practices and those of Applied Behavior Analysis.

SLP-ABA

I have vivid memories of a professor in graduate school essentially condemning the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) as the most “robotic” and “unnatural” way to help a child learn communication skills. As a passionate and dedicated Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP), I took these words to heart and kept them with me as I continued my career. That was until my first job as a Clinical Fellow at an Early Intervention center—that (insert gasp!) followed the principles of ABA. This center was also filled with the most diverse, beautiful children I have ever known, many of whom were diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder—my passion. I had to take this job!

As if starting my first job in New York City was not daunting enough, here I was surrounded by the enemy—the big, bad ABA therapists! As a newbie who was still building confidence in my field, and having been trained to always respect other professionals (especially those who are above you in the pecking order), I took a backseat and opened my ears and eyes to the ABA that was happening all around me. The voice of my graduate professor was ringing still in my ears, so in my sessions, I made sure there was to be absolutely no ABA (at least I thought at the time!). If they wanted to “do ABA” in the classrooms, that was their business, but I wanted nothing to do with it!

Except—wait a minute—how did they teach that child to start pointing so quickly?

As time went on, I started to notice that some of my children were exhibiting extreme interfering behavior that I had not been trained to deal with. I was lost and did not know how to support these learners. Much to my relief, in came my super hero colleagues wearing ABA capes, telling me exactly what to do and why to do it.

 

Pick of the Week: NEW! Inferencing Card Sets

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Help students improve their inferencing skills with these brand new inferencing cards we’ve just added to our catalog! This week, you can save 15%* on the Inferencing Quick Take Along! Mini Book or the WH Inference Question Cards by applying our promo code INFER15 at check-out!

The pocket-sized Inferencing Quick Take Along! Mini Book is perfect for the busy speech-language pathologist, special educator, teacher, or parent. Help students practice their inferencing skills by responding to 520 prompts in 13 different categories covering: Actions, Categories, Cloze Sentences, Context Clues, Descriptive Clues, Emotions, Locations, Naming Tools & Devices, Occupations & Jobs, Problems & Solutions, Pronoun Antecedents, and Time & Seasons.

This small 5″ x 3″ book is spiral-bound, so you can easily flip pages and keep it open to the page you’re working on. The sturdy, laminated pages are tear-resistant and easy-to-read. Includes an Answer Key.

WH Inference Question Cards is a robust set of five card decks ideal for helping students reach the next stage of Wh-development, once they have mastered the basics. Each deck contains 56 double-sided cards that provide clues and hints to answer various Wh- questions. Side A has a colorful picture and a Wh-question (“Why is Karla waving?”). This picture provides clues that the children must use to infer the correct answer. Side B has a second, related picture and the answer (“She is going on a trip”).

The durable tin comes with 5 decks for Who?, What?, When?, Where?, and Why? Questions, each on a long-lasting metal ring for convenient use and storage. Leave the cards on the color-coded rings as you teach, or easily remove them as needed. Each of the 56 cards in the five decks measures 2½” x 3½”.

Don’t forget – you can take 15% off* either or both of these inferencing card sets by using our promo code INFER15 at check-out this week!

*Offer is valid until 11:59pm EST on February 24th, 2015. Not compatible with any other offers. Be sure there are no spaces or dashes in your code at check out!