1. What are they, and what does that mean?
By Keith Hersh M.S. BCBA

2. •Word of Mouth
•Books
•Journal Articles
•Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

3. •No Research
•Case Study
•Citing Other’s Research
•Group Design
•Single Subject Design

4. •Prediction
•Control
•Research must include changing something
and measuring the outcome.
•Best measurement is repeated
measurement over time
•Less reliable research uses pre and post test
surveys.

5. •There is no “best” type of research.
•Different tools for different jobs.
•As a parent, what can I do to figure out if I
am looking at good or bad research?

6. •Is it peer reviewed?
•Did it measure behavior or use surveys?
•How many subjects?
•Is there replication?
•Have external agencies reviewed the
literature?
•The National Research Council, The
Surgeon General, The American Academy of
Pediatrics, The National Autism Center, The
NPDCASD

7. •11 Established Treatments – thoroughly
researched and have sufficient evidence for
us to confidently state that they are effective.
•22 Emerging Treatments – some evidence of
effectiveness, but not enough for us to be
confident that they are truly effective.
•Unestablished – No evidence at this time.
•Ineffective/Harmful – Research shows the
treatment is not effective, and may even be
harmful.

8. •Antecedent Package
•Behavioral Package
•Comprehensive Behavioral Treatment for
Young Children
•Joint Attention
•Modeling
•Naturalistic Teaching Strategies
•Peer Training Packing

9. •Pivotal Response Training
•Schedules
•Self-Management
•Story-Based Interventions

10. •Effective With:
•Communication skills
•Social skills
•Play Skills
•Problem Behaviors
•Sensory and emotional regulation

11. •Example:
•Data are taken that show when Bob gets a
small lunch at 12:00 p.m., he is much more
likely to hit people during his work skills
program at 3:00 p.m.
•Norman will ruminate (bring up partially
digested food) if he drinks liquids during his
meal. Norman does not ruminate if he
drinks 30-40 minutes after a meal.

12. •Effective With:
•Academic Skills
•Communication Skills
•Personal Responsibility
•Problem Behavior
•Self-Stimulatory Behavior

13. •Examples
•In the last example, Bob was more
aggressive when he was hungry. In a
behavioral package, staff teach Bob to say
“I’m Hungry” to get a snack and “Break” to
take a break, instead of aggression.
•John has problems with finishing his work
in school. His behavioral package says, if
you finish your work, you go to recess, if you
don’t finish your work, you stay back until
the work is finished.

14. •Effective With:
•Children 0-9 with Autism
•Settings that can have high teacher to
student ratio
•Experts in ABA strategies
•Communication Skills
•Motor Skills
•Problem Behaviors
•General Symptoms Associated with ASD

15. •Example:
•John attends an ABA center for 30 hours per
week
•The program is run by a Board Certified
Behavior Analyst
•John has 2 other therapists that work
directly with him at the center
•John’s parents attend bi-weekly team
meetings, and implement the behavior plan
at home
•Focuses on deficits and excesses

16. •Works With:
•Ages 0-5 with Autism
•Children who don’t share attention with
another focused on an object or activity.
•Increasing eye gaze at same object
•Increasing pointing to same object
•Increasing talking about a same object

17. •Example:
•Teaching student to look at the same object
and interact with it or talk about it. Student
is not allowed to go play alone or next to
another student without sharing an item.
Many times starts with sharing an object,
taking turns, then both having an object,
and imitating each other, or doing the same
activity. (parachute, throwing a ball,
commenting)

18. •Works With:
•Ages 3-18 with Autism
•Communication Skills
•Higher Cognitive Skills
•Play Skills
•Problem Behaviors
•Multiple Step Tasks

19. •Examples:
•An 16 year old student is taught to wash his
clothes. The therapist shows a video of
doing the laundry. The therapist shows each
segment of the video, before the student can
complete that step. Feedback is given each
time the student performs a step.
•A student is learning to leave the computer
when the timer goes off. Two other peers are
at the computer table. When the timer goes
off, the other two peers go back to their seat.

20. •Works With:
•Shown Effective for ages 0-9 with Autism
•Communication Skills
•Interpersonal Skills
•Play Skills
•Usually requires learning in structured
setting first then more natural setting.

21. •Examples:
•Every day before snack and lunch all
students in the classroom must wash their
hands. A task analysis is designed to
monitor progress and independence every
time hands are washed. The student sees
other students wash their hands before, and
hears other students being praised for the
steps. Prompting is slowly faded for the last
successful step in the chain.

22. •Examples:
•Dee enjoys playing with princesses. As part
of her program, she is learning to label
colors. After she can identify colors on cards
at the table, the teacher then gets 5
princesses with different color gowns. The
student requests each the colors of the
gowns, and gets to play with the princess for
correctly identifying that color.

23. •Works With:
•Ages 3-14 with Autism
•Communication Skills
•Play Skills
•Sharing
•Social Interactions
•Asking for help

24. •Examples:
•Nathan is in a Physical Education class with
typical peers. He seems to enjoy praise and
interaction with his peers, but often
struggles to participate in games such as
soccer or basketball. Peers are taught to
prompt (physically and verbally) and to
reinforce (verbal and tangible) participation
in the games.
•Notes: Keep ages/skill levels similar.
Contingencies for peers. Siblings are great!

25. •Works With:
•Ages 3-9 with Autism
•Communication Skills
•Interpersonal Skills
•Play Skills

26. •Examples: Note that PRT is very similar to
ABA. It can be very difficult to determine
exactly what constitutes PRT.
•Teaching by varying materials to avoid
boredom, using natural reinforcers and
making sure they are available for attempts
to communicate, teaching in the natural
environment.
•PRT heavily focuses on using existing
motivation and naturally occurring
situations to teach and reinforce behavior.

27. •Works With:
•EVERYONE!!!!!
•Transitions (sometimes)
•Predicting what comes next
•Independent living

28. •Examples:
•A picture of each classroom activity is
placed on a Velcro board. Each time an
event is completed, the picture symbol is
removed and placed in a “finished” box or
side of the board.
•A day planner is used to document all
outings or variances from the normal
schedule. (Lucas and his daily schedule).

29. •Works With:
•Ages 3-18 with Autism
•Academic skills
•Interpersonal skills
•Self-regulation
•Teaching awareness of learners behavior
•Recording your own data

30. •Examples:
•Student is first taught rules from a list.
Student is taught to label when other’s
follow the rules in video and role play.
Student is asked to evaluate their own
behavior.
•Travis and the “Changing my behavior plan”

31. •AKA Social Stories
•Works With:
•Ages 6-14 with Autism
•Favorable with Asperger’s and students with
more developed language skills
•Choice and play skills
•Self-regulation (predicting consequences)
•Social behavior
•Understanding emotions

32. •Examples:
•Not just a story!
•Must be specific about actual behaviors
•Identifies social consequences for behavior
•A learner is staring at girls in the classroom
excessively and classmates are reporting
being uncomfortable. A story outlines only
looking at someone briefly and looking
away. The story focuses on social
consequences for staring.

33. •A student does not engage in choice making
or engaging with materials. The teacher
designs stories about how to use materials
and combines the story with modeling and
reinforcement.
•An adolescent takes 8 pills a day. The family
designs a story about when to take pills, and
sets a wrist watch to have 3 alarms to remind
the student. Social stories with pictures of
the watch and pill containers are used to
teach the student to take pills independently.

34. •There are many interventions that have
been shown to be effective to change
behavior of individuals with autism.
•These interventions are based on principles
of behavior.
•Professional BCBA expertise
•Data collection is mandatory
•Family input is crucial to success

35. •The National Autism Center, “Evidence-
Based practice and Autism in the Schools.”
2009.
•Wait there’s more!!!!!
•The National Professional Development
Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders,
“Evidence Based Practices.”
•“ABA Resources” at www.i-aba.com