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9703 Collaborative Dual-Methodology Programming: ABA and DIR- Perfect Together


Saturday, July 15, 2017: 8:30 AM-9:45 AM
Room: 103A (Wisconsin Center )
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This presentation focuses on the collaboration of professionals in the use of the ABA and DIR models together in an ASD program to promote student success. Presenters will share techniques and strategies in the use of dual methodologies, including staffing, administration and working with families in this joint model.
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.


Learning Objectives:

  • • Participants will be able to: Describe the differences and similarities between ABA and DIR methodologies.
  • • Describe at least 5 strategies to incorporate ABA and DIR (two widely diverse methods of intervention) within one program.
  • • Describe at least 5 strategies to incorporate ABA and DIR (two widely diverse methods of intervention) within one program.

Track: Life Stage 2 - School Age

Content Area: Academic Success

Presenter:

Michele C. Havens, Ph.D.
Imagine Academy

Michele Havens is currently the DIR Consultant to the Imagine Academy, a school for children with ASD, utilizing DIR-Floortime and ABA). She received her DIR/Floortime certification in 2010. Dr. Havens is a full time Professor at Kean University in Union, NJ, and adjunct at Montclair State University, in Montclair, NJ.