The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

There are many models currently utilized for educating students with autism. This presentation will focus on two of them, Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) and Developmental, Individualized, Relationship-Based Intervention (DIR). These two models are often considered contradictory and opposing in nature, but can work collaboratively. At Imagine Academy, in Brooklyn, NY, we have a unique population of students with multiple, severe to profound challenges, who have not previous been successful in their educational programs. The concept of collaborating between these two models was critical to the inception of the Imagine Academy curriculum and program.

Critical reviews of effective interventions for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have traditionally looked almost exclusively at research of behaviorally based interventions. These behavioral-based studies lend themselves to traditional quantitative research due to the frequency and thoroughness of data collection within the behavioral methodologies (ABA). There are many studies of behavioral methodologies, which tend to look at external behaviors, but do not address some of the core components of ASD, including sensory processing, motor planning and sequencing, executive functioning, relationships, abstract thinking, capacity for empathy, theory of mind, and affective reciprocity. Developmentally based intervention (DIR), on the other hand, is much more difficult to quantify and consequently more challenging to study.

This presentation will look at the use of dual methodologies, in terms of the staff, administration and family perspectives on this unique programming model, and provide guidelines for using this model in other programs.