In this episode, Meghan Roberson, a dual-certified SLP and BCBA and the Owner/Director of Anchor ABA shares the Sensory Pyramid or "Pyramid of Learning." Meghan explains how there is often a lack of training and general awareness that the impact of dysregulation can have on all types of behavior. Increased understanding on this topic can cause an important shift in mindset on how to approach behavior challenges in a proactive and effective. Although teachers and behavior analysts are not license...
Mar 01, 2021•48 min•Season 1Ep. 116
Activity schedules are a great way to teach leisure skills and promote independence. Special education teacher and BCBA, Christina Abadir, shares options for ways to set up activity schedules in the classroom or home setting. She gives a wide range of examples and setup options and explores ways to differentiate for virtual instruction and a socially distant classroom. Click here to find out more info about The Autism Helper Professional Development Membership: https://theautismhelper.com/member...
Feb 22, 2021•18 min•Season 1Ep. 115
Executive functions are mental skills that we use everyday to get things done. They can be thought as the management system of the brain. These skills are essential for academic, social, and functional success. Former special education teacher, BCBA, and behavior coach, Lisa Berluti, explores executive functions and how both teachers and parents can help cultivate these skills. Lisa shares examples on common expectations and ways to support skill development for response inhibition, organization...
Feb 15, 2021•42 min•Season 1Ep. 114
ENCORE EPISODE Transitioning is a skill that some of our learners may benefit from more instruction on. In this episode learn my 7 tips for teaching students to tolerate transitions effectively. I focus on evidence based antecedent interventions. We want to prevent the problem behavior before it starts. Identify tweaks or additions you can add to your classroom to make transitions better and less challenging for your learners. Click here to find out more info about The Autism Helper Professional...
Feb 08, 2021•20 min•Season 1Ep. 113
ENCORE EPISODE Reinforcement is a term that's thrown around a lot however it's commonly misunderstood and misused. Reinforcement is something that comes after a behavior that causes an increase in the probability of that behavior happening again in the future. There are two big warnings signs I see when I think, "This isn't actually reinforcement." When I am told a "reinforcer" doesn't work or when I see a "reinforcer" used before a positive behavior occurs (in hopes that it will), I know this i...
Feb 01, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 112
ENCORE EPISODE In a school setting, working on teams is always part of the job. However, teamwork is hard. It can be even more challenging when working with colleagues who are "difficult". You may have colleagues who are pushy, overly opinionated, or aggressive. This can add stress to your day and impact your happiness at work. In this episode, we take an ABA approach to collaboration. I share 4 common teamwork strategies and explain why taking these steps can be effective. Let's look at adult i...
Jan 25, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 111
ENCORE EPISODE All behavior is communication - even behavior that is disruptive, dangerous, and aggressive. Those behaviors are communicating something and they are communicating it loudly. While you are in the process of finding and implementing an effective and function-based intervention for dangerous student behaviors such as aggression or running, the day to day obstacles can be huge. Handling student aggression in a way that is respectful to the student while also keeping everyone safe is ...
Jan 18, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 110
ENCORE EPISODE In this episode, I interview Dr. Megan Miller on strategies for approaching challenging behaviors while consistently looking at maintaining the dignity and respect for students. Megan Miller, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA is the co-founder of Navigation Behavioral Consulting and the Chief Clinical Officer of LifeTribe. Dr. Miller is an author and presenter on best practices within Applied Behavior Analysis. Dr. Miller discusses common strategies and why they may be problematic and what we ca...
Jan 11, 2021•48 min•Season 1Ep. 109
ENCORE EPISODE Why do we forget about one of the most important parts of our job? Staff training doesn't seem to be a high priority on a day to day basis but it's actually what will give you the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to the overall success of your classroom. Getting your staff on the same page has a lasting impact on all areas of your room. In this episode, let's discuss why staff training is so important and how your personal hang ups often get in the way. Feeling uncomfortab...
Jan 04, 2021•22 min•Season 1Ep. 108
In this episode, special education teacher and BCBA, Jessica McNamara, shares what differential reinforcement is and why it’s so effective. Jessica expands on this topic by discussing how to utilize differential reinforcement with the context of token economy. She reviews different types of individualized token economies she uses for her students and why they are effective. Click here to find out more info about The Autism Helper Professional Development Membership: https://theautismhelper.com/m...
Dec 21, 2020•13 min•Season 1Ep. 107
Choice is important. It’s the foundation of functional independence, problem solving skills, and a sense of autonomy. BCBA, Margaret Hatteberg is sharing how to utilize choice as an antecedent intervention. This simple strategy can have a huge impact on increasing cooperation and decreasing negative behaviors. Click here to find out more info about The Autism Helper Professional Development Membership: https://theautismhelper.com/membership/ Want more information about The Autism Helper Courses?...
Dec 16, 2020•11 min•Season 1Ep. 106
Approaching behavior change from a proactive perspective is more likely to be effective and long lasting than a purely reactive strategy. In this episode, BCBA Natalie Odio, the owner of Onward Behavioral Services, shares how to use non-contingent reinforcement in a user friendly way. Natalie defines NCR and shares classroom based examples as well as examples from her own life. We discuss how to select time intervals and utilize this strategy within a busy classroom setting. Click here to find o...
Dec 14, 2020•14 min•Season 1Ep. 105
Behavioral Momentum is an evidence based strategy that helps you take a proactive approach at helping your learners be successful with challenging demands. BCBA and Founder of Ability ABA, PLLC, Amy Foxman shares what behavioral momentum is and the steps for using it. Amy breakdowns why this strategy is effective and how teachers can share this strategy with their teams. Click here to find out more info about The Autism Helper Professional Development Membership: https://theautismhelper.com/memb...
Dec 09, 2020•12 min•Season 1Ep. 104
A task analysis breaks down a complex behavior chain into specific behaviors. Jana Sarno, BCBA and Chief Clinical Officer for Autism in Motions Clinic, shares why creating a task analysis is helpful and how to do it. Jana gives examples of different skills this can be utilized for, what data you can collect, and - most importantly - what to do with that data! Click here to find out more info about The Autism Helper Professional Development Membership: https://theautismhelper.com/membership/ Want...
Dec 07, 2020•12 min•Season 1Ep. 103
When thinking about reducing problem behaviors, we actually want to focus on increasing missing positive behaviors. These replacement skills are essential to long lasting behavior change. When working with individuals with special needs who have a history of trauma, there are some special considerations we should make when approaching how to teach these skills and how to respond to negative behaviors. In this episode, Amanda Wilson and Danielle Lindquist share their expertise in this area on how...
Dec 02, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 102
Shaping is a great way to meet students where they are at and helpful them be successful while learning a new skill. School based BCBA, Kristi Toward, walks us through the process of shaping, how to collect data, and why this strategy is so effective. Click here to find out more info about The Autism Helper Professional Development Membership: https://theautismhelper.com/membership/ Want more information about The Autism Helper Courses? Visit: https://theautismhelper.com/courses/ Looking for a s...
Nov 30, 2020•14 min•Season 1Ep. 101
We are 100 episodes into The Autism Helper Podcast! To celebrate, I am sharing some of my favorite moments from the past 99 episodes. Thank you for listening and supporting this podcast! If you enjoy this podcast, I would really appreciate it if you would leave a review! Thanks in advance! Click here to find out more info about The Autism Helper Professional Development Membership: https://theautismhelper.com/membership/ Want more information about The Autism Helper Courses? Visit: https://theau...
Nov 25, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 100
As a teacher, one of the hardest parts about collecting consistent data is finding the time to do it. In today's episodes, BCBA and consultant Hannah Foltz shares an efficient and easy to utilize data collection method - momentary time sampling. Momentary time sampling can help give an approximation of the frequency of a behavior without a time intensive data collection process. Hannah shares what momentary time sampling is and how you can collect data using this method! Click here to find out m...
Nov 23, 2020•10 min•Season 1Ep. 99
There are many situations when a new negative behavior starts and we don’t know what to do next. We don’t yet know the function of the behavior and don’t want to unintentionally reinforce the response. In these situations, we should use the least reinforcing scenario. School Psychologist and BCBA, Shannon Shy, describes what the least reinforcing scenario is, how we can use it, and how it will cause positive behavior change! LINK: Find Shannon's book, What Shamu Taught Me Aout Life, Love, and Ma...
Nov 18, 2020•17 min•Season 1Ep. 98
Sometimes in life we are told no or we are told to wait. It’s not always fun and it’s not always easy. In this episode - school based BCBA, Abbey Mix, shares how to approach this situation through a skill based mindset. We can identify that there may be a missing skill of knowing how to wait or knowing how to accept being told no. Once we can identify this missing skill, we can target teaching an appropriate response. Be sure to check associated links below for more info! Links: FTF Behavioral C...
Nov 16, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 97
It is essential to approach decreasing a negative behavior from a skills acquisition perspective. A negative behavior serves a function and we need to teach a new way to get access to that same function. Kate Patterson, a BCBA with both school and home-based experience, goes through the whole process of utilizing replacement behaviors. Kate shares how to get to the hypothesized function, what replacement behaviors could look like, and what to do when there may be multiple functions. Click here t...
Nov 11, 2020•13 min•Season 1Ep. 96
The skill of making a decision is an important one. It teaches autonomy, leads to more independence, and helps give control. Special Education Teacher and BCBA, Laura Verzi-Aleszczyk, shares how she uses choices with her students and clients. Laura discusses why giving frequent choices are helpful especially during non-preferred activities. Laura gives the prerequisites for this strategies and tons of real-world based examples of utilizes this in a home or school setting. Click here to find out ...
Nov 09, 2020•17 min•Season 1Ep. 95
Consequences have a bad reputation when really they don’t have to be bad. Consequences follow all of our behaviors, can be positive or negative, and can be planned or unplanned. In this Mini ABA Episode, BCBA Hilary McClinton shares what consequences are and why it’s important to be able to identify consequences within the environment. LINKS http://www.coastalridgeaba.ca/ Click here to find out more info about The Autism Helper Professional Development Membership: https://theautismhelper.com/mem...
Nov 04, 2020•12 min•Season 1Ep. 94
All behaviors happen for a reason. In today’s episode, we will be diving into the potential reasons why behavior could be happening. BCBA, Jessica Zielske, shares the 4 functions of behavior and why it’s especially important to figure out why behaviors are happening when we are looking for behavior change. LINKS Learn more from Jessica at www.theblondebehavioranalyst.com and on instagram @theblondebehavioranalyst. Click here to find out more info about The Autism Helper Professional Development ...
Nov 02, 2020•17 min•Season 1Ep. 93
The Premack Principle is something you probably use on a daily basis and didn’t even realize it. In this episode, we breakdown what the Premack Principle is, how to use it effectively, and how to get your teams on board. Former special education teacher and BCBA, Stacey Francesconi, goes in-depth into “grandma’s rule” and how this even applies to our own lives. Stacey is also the co-host of the podcast The Contingency Clique. Links: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-contingency-clique/id...
Oct 28, 2020•15 min•Season 1Ep. 92
Let’s start off our Mini ABA Episode Series with one of the best foundational topics - data collection. BCBA and ABADesk co-founder, Jane Logvinova, shares a great overview of what data collection is and why we collect data. Jane points out how data can be taken in simple & easy to utilize ways. Jane reviews data collection best practices, how to use operational definitions, and what to do with data once you take it! Click here to find out more info about The Autism Helper Professional Devel...
Oct 26, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 91
Executive Functioning skills are sets of processes to achieve a goal. Executive functioning skills involve organization, planning, and time management. Remote learning can be especially challenging for learners with executive functioning weakness. Erin Vollmer MS, CCC-SLP shares 6 strategies to help our students during virtual learning. Erin is a licensed and certified pediatric speech language pathologist. She is the co-founder of TherapyWorks; which provides quality speech, occupational, physi...
Oct 19, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 90
Virtual learning brings new challenges for everyone. Changes to our schedules, less structure, and the new expectations that online instruction brings can sometimes lead to increased anxiety with learners with autism. In this episode, Dr. Eric Storch shares helpful strategies for how both parents and teachers can help students cope with anxiety during this time. Dr. Storch is a Professor and McIngvale Presidential Endowed Chair in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at...
Oct 14, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 89
It can be a challenge to incorporate the important components of our in-person instruction into virtual learning. High school teacher and teacher coach, Leanne Abushar, shares how she uses video modeling and video streaming to work on life skills with her high school students virtually. Leanne shares the importance of the home school connection, gives tips for collaborating with parents, and reviews how she creates a task analysis data sheet for parents to complete. This episode is filled with a...
Oct 12, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 88
Special education teacher, Kelsey Jansson, shares how she incorporates reinforcement into her virtual classroom. Reinforcement is essential to build new skills and as Kelsey points out, virtual learning involves a lot of new skills for our learners. Reinforcement is more important than ever! Kelsey utilizes virtual choice boards, virtual token boards, and mini schedules to embed reinforcement into her virtual instruction. She gives specific and actionable tips on how to use these strategies in y...
Oct 07, 2020•16 min•Season 1Ep. 87
