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Conference Details

Date: June 27th and 28th
Location: Gateway Fellowship Hall, 60 N. Recker Road, Gilbert, AZ 85236
Cost: $150 each for family members; $200 each for professionals (CEU units provided)

Teaching Language to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Disabilities

Teaching Language to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Disabilities: Workshop Schedule 8:00 – 9:00 am: Registration 9:00 – 10:30 am: Introduction to the analysis & assessment of verbal behavior (expressive language) 10:30 – 10:45 am: Break 10:45 – 12:00 noon: Beginning language skills (early mands, tacts and echoics) 12:00 – 1:30 pm: Lunch break 1:30 – 3:00 pm: Further development of language skills (RFFC, intraverbals and advanced mands) 3:00 – 3:15 pm: Break 3:15 – 4:30 pm: Teaching language in the natural environment

This workshop is designed to provide an overview of B.F. Skinner’s analysis of language to parents, educators, and other practitioners. A review of the primary verbal operants (expressive language skills) will be provided along with a videotape review of teaching methods typically used to teach those skills.

Participants will learn a method to assess a child’s language abilities, and how to implement several important intervention strategies. A major emphasis will be placed on identifying methods to enhance and utilize motivational variables (establishing operations) to teach language in both structured teaching sessions and in daily activities. Techniques for coordinating the ongoing decision making necessary for effective language intervention and methods of data collection and tracking will be presented.

Participants will be able to...

• Identify examples of B.F. Skinner’s verbal operants.
• Describe how curricular variables affect the motivation of young children with autism.
• How teaching a child to mand for reinforcers results in the development of several other important learner skills.
• Identify methods for developing and maintaining the motivation of young children with autism.
• Conduct an initial behavioral language assessment such as to determine the most appropriate initial language intervention for young children with autism.
• Identify the criteria for selection of the initial words to teach young children with autism who do not have expressive language skills.
• Identify the critical elements of discrete trials instruction.
• Explain how to perform a correction procedure in situations in which the student provides an incorrect response.
• Explain how to develop intraverbal skills
• Identify how the critical elements of discrete trial instruction can be implemented within the child’s typical daily events.

The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills (The ABLLS™-R) and WebABLLS™ Introductory Workshop

The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills (The ABLLS™-R) and WebABLLS™ Introductory: Workshop Schedule 8:00 – 9:00 am: Registration 9:00 – 10:30 am: Introduction to the ABLLS™-R 10:30 – 10:45 am: Break 10:45 – 12:00 noon: Scoring the ABLLS™-R 12:00 – 1:30 pm: Lunch break 1:30 – 3:00 pm: Using the ABLLS™-R to develop an education program 3:00 – 3:15 pm: Break 3:15 – 4:30 pm: Tracking skill acquisition and adjusting program strategies

The ABLLS™-R/ WebABLLS™ introductory workshop will provide participants with the tools to analyze and track learner skills and develop a comprehensive language-based curriculum for children. The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills (The ABLLS™-R) and WebABLLS™, provide an assessment tool, curriculum guide, and skills-tracking system used to help guide the instruction of language and critical learner skills for children with autism or other developmental disabilities. This powerful tool is now available both in book form and through WebABLLS™ to parents, teachers, speech pathologists, behavior analysts, and others who design, coordinate, and/or supervise language or skill-acquisition programs.

With the ABLLS™-R and/or WebABLLS™, you can precisely assess a child’s language and learning skills, as well as identify when, where, and how the skills are being used. Participants will learn how to develop IEP goals and objectives that clearly define and target the learning needs of a student. These tools allow you to pinpoint obstacles that have been preventing a child from acquiring new skills and begin to develop a comprehensive language-based curriculum.

Essential information on scoring and interpreting the ABLLS-™R will be shared through our discussions with examples that will show you how to:

• Perform skills analyses to determine a child’s strengths and deficits.
• Continually measure and monitor learning achievements using specially designed skill tracking grids.
• Utilize assessment results for evaluating priorities, determining IEP objectives, and developing curricula.

This introductory-level workshop is primarily geared for professionals and parents who have not had extensive experience in using the ABLLS™-R.

To register, please print off the registration form, fill it out and send it along with payment to Lauren's Institute for Education, Attn: Margaret, 3341 E. Queen Creek Road, Suite 109, Gilbert, AZ 85297.