ASD & Behavioural Interventions: An Introduction for School Personnel is an online training program designed for all educational personnel including teachers, school administration, educational assistants, speech-language pathologists, school psychologists, etc. While designed for educators, ASD and Behavioural Interventions provides essential information regarding the needs of individuals with ASD and appropriate interventions relevant for numerous contexts.
ASD and Behavioural Interventions may also be incorporated as a curriculum within the context of college and university courses for service providers and educators.
The training is comprised of 40 hours of self-paced instruction with suggested benchmarks for completion of modules and a quiz at the end of each module to ensure mastery of critical concepts.
Module 1: Introduction to ASD
- Describe the key characteristics that contribute to a diagnosis of ASD; and
- Recognize examples of how the characteristics may manifest in a variety of learners with ASD.
Module 2: Impact of ASD on Learning
Learning Goals
This module explores the impact ASD may have on six areas related to learning:
- Cognitive skills
- Motivation
- Play skills
- Observational learning
- Group instruction
- Academic skills
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Recognize some of the ways in which learners with ASD are impacted by deficits in cognitive skills, motivation, play skills, observational learning; and
- Recognize the skills needed for group instruction and academics.
Module 3: Evidence-Based Practice
Learning Goals
This module will examine evidence-based interventions for learners with ASD and a framework for using what is known from research in school settings.
By the end of this module you will be able to:
- Define evidence-based intervention;
- Recognize some interventions for learners with ASD that are evidence based and some that are non-evidence based; and
- Summarize the components of evidence-based practice.
Module 4: Identifying Learner Needs
In this module, methods and considerations for developing a summary of a student’s strengths and challenges to support the educational planning process are presented.
By the end of this module you will be able to:
- Identify the basic steps in the process for developing a summary of a student’s strengths and challenges and the importance of the summary to successful program development
- Identify formal and informal assessment methods that can be used to develop the learner summary of strengths and challenges
- Identify the important considerations for prioritizing and establishing learning goals that address identified needs and challenges
- Recognize the importance of data to evaluating outcomes and select appropriate measurement tools to monitor student progress
- Participate in the process for identifying a student’s needs and challenges
Module 5: Learning and Behaviour
Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) relies on what is known about behaviour, including how environment influences behaviour to promote learning and lasting interventions thay directly apply the principles of ABA – antecedent-based interventions and reinforcement – and be used to influence learner performance to teach new knowledge or skills and/or to manage, motivate, support and sustain specific behaviour.
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Identify the basic principles of behaviour: antecedent, behaviour and consequence;
- Define reinforcement, and differentiate between positive and negative reinforcement, and positive and negative punishment;
- Identify the steps for implementing reinforcement to influence motivation and promote learning;
- Use observation and a checklist to assess a learner’s preferences to identify potential reinforcers;
- Identify the steps for implementing a token economy; and
- Identify a number of antecedent strategies that can be implemented to influence motivation and promote learning for learners with ASD.
Module 6: Behavioural Teaching Approaches
In this module you will learn how the components of learning can be used, both informally and formally, in a number of evidence-based approaches to develop new behaviour and skills.
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Identify basic components in the behavioural approach to developing skills – SD/instruction, prompting, response (correct/incorrect), and consequence (reinforcement/error correction)
- Identify how to effectively use prompting
- Identify instructional approaches commonly used with learners with ASD, including discrete trial instruction, task analysis and chaining, and shaping
- Identify key elements for conducting a task analysis
- Determine appropriate context for instruction – large group, small group, individualized setting
- Identify strategies for embedding goals/outcomes in daily routines
- Recognize the importance of and identify strategies for supporting generalization and maintenance of skills
Module 7: Structuring the Classroom Environment
Structuring the classroom environment, with an emphasis on visual information and external organizational supports, can increase student engagement, improve independent functioning, and reduce problem behaviours. Environmental supports help make the classroom more meaningful and predictable for students with ASD and promote increased participation, independence, and academic growth.
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Recognize the importance of a structured classroom environment to the success of many students with ASD
- Identify key considerations for structuring the environment through the use of visual supports, by using work systems, by minimizing distractions and accommodating sensory differences, and by supporting transitions
- Identify key considerations for using visual supports and work systems
Module 8: Supporting Communication Skills
Communication is central to human interaction and learning. Developing effective communication skills enhances our social relationships and emotional well-being, and supports successful learning experiences in school and in vocational or postsecondary learning.
Information in this module is presented in two sections:
- Basic language and communication concepts
- Strategies to address language and communication needs
By the end of the Basic Language and Communication Concepts section of this module, you will be able to:
- Identify the basic functions of communication – requesting, labeling, imitating, intraverbal, and receptive
- Identify some of the common characteristics of language and communication in ASD
By the end of the Strategies to Address Language and Communication Needs section of this module, you will be able to:
- Identify a number of general strategies that can be used by all school personnel to support language and communication
- Recognize the importance of providing communication instruction and practice throughout the day, not just during scheduled intervention periods
- Identify the steps for implementing incidental teaching
- Identify the steps for pivotal response teaching (NS and PEI participants)
- Recognize that alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) includes any form of communication (other than speech) that is used to express thoughts, needs, wants, and ideas
- Recognize how AAC systems can be used to support the communication needs of some students
Module 9: Managing Challenging Behaviours
Challenging behaviours are those that are disruptive to the classroom environment, impact other students’ learning, and/or pose a safety risk for others. Challenging behaviours can also have a significant impact on the student’s own learning, safety, opportunities for social interaction and relationships.
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Identify some proactive strategies that help to support student success and reduce the likelihood that challenging behaviour will occur
- Recognize that challenging behaviour serves a purpose or function for the individual and identify the main functions of challenging behaviour
- Identify the steps and key considerations for developing a hypothesis about the function of behaviour
- Identify potential intervention strategies based on hypothesized function
- Recognize the importance of documenting and monitoring the interventions implemented to address challenging behaviour
Module 10: Supporting Social Skills
Social skill deficits are a central feature of ASD. The degree of impairment varies widely from individual to individual. Social skills impact almost every aspect of our daily lives at home, at school or work, and in the community. They are integral to life success. It is important that we help students with ASD acquire social skills or learn social rules to compensate for what does not come naturally.
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Identify some of the common social skills difficulties associated with ASD
- Identify eight factors that contribute to effective social skills intervention and recognize the importance of a systematic approach to intervention
- Recognize that social skill difficulties may result from either skill deficits or performance deficits, and identify basic intervention strategies that address each type of deficit
- Recognize two types of general strategies for social skills instruction, proactive teaching strategies, and strategies for practicing social skills in the natural environment
- Identify the five basic steps for Behavioural Skills Training (BST), an evidence-based approach for teaching social and functional skills
- Identify prompting and reinforcement strategies in the natural learning environment
- Identify the four basic steps for implementing peer-mediated intervention
- Identify four basic guidelines for peer sensitivity lessons
