The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

Learn how to establish compliance and pairing to teach children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) functional communication while building vocalizations through requesting, manding, verbal imitation and generalization of the learned skills. Impairment in social skills and communication are the core deficits in autism spectrum disorders. Accumulating evidence suggests that there is lack of opportunities for these children to develop these vital skills in natural environment.

 The word autism is a puzzle for many providers, teachers and professionals. They approach the child with preconceived ideas and myths. In teaching the child they apply interventions that they have learned and think is the best for that child. Every child on the spectrum is different and unless you understand the child first, there will be no progress, and every session will result in tantrums and behavioral issues.

 This training will describe the efficacy and effective implementation of the ABA tools especially Compliance, Pairing and Reinforcement strategies in children who are non-verbal.

 Through this training, participants will have the opportunity to learn and demonstrate understanding of prompts, prompt dependency, fading of prompts.

The training will address stimulus control and transfer of stimulus control to the child; appropriate use of Extinction for tantrums and Escape/Avoidance behaviors; Learning strategies of how to mix and vary tasks to keep the session interesting, involving parents and all the therapists as a team to evoke and enhance language of the child.

The following Behavioral tools will be referenced to:- 

• Use of Sign Language to Increase Vocal responding
• Using Time Delay and Differential Reinforcement to Increase Vocal Responding
• Using Stimulus-Stimulus Pairing procedure to Increase Vocal responding
• Use of Reinforcement of Any and All Vocal Responses to Increase Overall Vocal Responding
• Teaching of the Echoic Response to Increase Overall Vocal Responding
• Use of the Kaufman Praxis Treatment Kit for children to Improve Vocal Responding.

 This session will look into the intervention from the point of view of the child with ASD telling how to help him and why they do what they do?  A progressive video of several children who were non compliant and non verbal will be shown in segments during the discussions to show that it can be done, empowering parents especially.

 Demonstrating the use of Functional Assessment to identify the most effective teaching strategies to develop practical skills and strategies for use in the evaluation, education, and treatment of individuals with ASD.

 The most important outcomes of the session will be that participants will better understand that a child is a child first and know how to work beyond the limitations of a child’s disability and toward a more effective teaching-learning relationship.

The audience will feel confident that they have a better understanding of the spectrum and will approach the child in away that is inviting for the child to come out of their world and enable the child to function appropriately to his/her capability in the community. They will be able to engage in a dialogue with other professionals, teachers, providers and parents enabling them to view the spectrum in a way that is more informative, positive and engaging.

Learning Objectives: