Attention-seeking behavior is quite common; however, our learners often don’t know how to wait to receive attention. They also may not know how to properly seek attention, and it’s our job to teach them. Here, we discuss the value of attention and effective strategies to teach our learners how to request and gain attention.

We start by defining attention-seeking behaviors and how to assess them, including how to identify more subtle behaviors and the importance of identifying the function of the behavior. We also discuss how to introduce replacement skills, request attention programs, proper use of reinforcement, and how to use role play and practice scenarios.

What’s Inside:

• Strategies to teach our learners how to request and gain attention
• How to introduce replacement skills
• How to use role play and practice scenarios

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Functions of Behavior Cheat Sheet

Sequencing is an intermediate language skill, and it can be found in just about everything we do. In ABA, you’ll find sequencing skills on lots of different assessments, including the ABLES. Sequencing also helps learners with other skills, including how questions, before and after, telling stories, predicting, and remembering household tasks. 

Here, we discuss the best ways to teach sequencing to our learners. We start by defining sequencing and talking about how it shows up in our everyday lives. We then break down all the different components of sequencing and teaching across operants. We also share practical examples of how to teach sequencing, prerequisite skills to identify, and strategies to use when creating sequencing programs.

What’s Inside:

• How to teach sequencing and develop programs
• Prerequisite skills needed before teaching sequencing
• Practical examples and strategies

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Expanding Language Skills

Many of our students struggle with initiating language and conversation. Because of this, we usually place a strong emphasis on teaching requesting, or manding, in an ABA program. Here, we discuss how we can teach more advanced manding skills using WH questions. If our learners can mand a request for their wants and needs, it helps reduce challenging behaviors and motivates them to talk.

We discuss the prerequisite skills a learner needs before teaching manding with WH questions. We talk about some of the common mistakes we might make and how to troubleshoot. We also discuss where to start when introducing WH questions, how to keep learners motivated through fun, and practical examples of teaching WH questions.

What’s Inside:

• How to teach manding with WH questions
• Prerequisite skills needed before introducing WH questions
• How to keep learners motivated through fun

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WH Requesting Ideas

Chris Topham is a behavior scientist and the owner of Celeration ABA. Along with his wife, who is also a BCBA, Chris founded Celeration ABA in 2020. At first, they mostly focused on supporting families through the COVID-19 pandemic by providing telehealth ABA and academic support while their children weren’t in school. Within a few years of launch, they’ve grown to become a profitable ABA company focused on delivering high-quality, personalized ABA to families in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Here, Chris shares his background and how he became focused on precision-based teaching. He also shares how to use a celeration chart and walks through how to use it to measure manding. We also discuss celeration charts and fluency-based instruction, using precision-based teaching in task analysis, why Chris uses a one-tier model at Celeration ABA, and advice for those new to the field of ABA and precision teaching

What’s Inside:

• How to use a celeration chart
• Using precision-based teaching in task analysis
• Why Chris uses a one-tier model

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Intraverbals are one of the most challenging concepts for our learners. They can also be the hardest to teach. Here, we cover some of the best ways to teach intraverbals so we can set our learners up for success. Ideally, we want our learners to have the comprehension and ability to hold information in their heads and answer questions correctly without visual support.

We discuss why intraverbals are so important for conversation skills and the appropriate age at which to teach them. We talk about why we shouldn’t jump to teaching intraverbals too quickly and how to teach across operants. We also discuss how to be flexible in our teaching and how to incorporate WH and safety questions.

What’s Inside:

• How to teach intraverbals to our learners
• The importance of intraverbals for conversation skills
• How to incorporate WH and safety questions

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Dr. Peter Gerhardt is the Executive Director of Epic Programs in New Jersey. Dr. Shanna Bahry is the founder and executive director of Meaningful Hope. Dr. Gerhardt and Dr. Bahry us to discuss their experiences in the field and the gaps they see when it comes to setting up our learners for a successful, independent life. Together, they created a blueprint of how ABA practitioners can help the people they support make lasting, effective changes.

Here, Peter and Shanna share their background and what ultimately led to their work to change how we cultivate independence in our learners. We discuss their book, Make It Meaningful and some of the key takeaways. We also discuss tips for talking to parents, the top three independence skills to teach, and creative workarounds to help learners master skills. 

What’s Inside:

• How Dr. Gerhardt and Dr. Bahry are working to change how we help our learners achieve independence
• All about Dr. Gerhardt and Dr. Bahry’s book, Make It Meaningful
• Creative workarounds to help our learners master independence skills

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Book: Make It Meaningful
Make It Meaningful Website

Functional communication and replacement language are important skills to work on with learners. Are you incorporating appropriate protests into these teachings? Here, we cover what appropriate protests are and some of the best ways to include this skill in our programs.

We discuss the reasons why teaching protests is so important and how to break down our teaching into multiple steps. We also talk about the different ways to teach appropriate protesting, recording triggers, and how to teach learners how to tolerate situations where “no” isn’t an option.

What’s Inside:

• How to incorporate appropriate protests into teachings
• Why it’s important to teach protests to our learners
• Different approaches to teaching protests

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Appropriate Protests Download

Leila Farshchian is the CEO of ABA Toolbox, a comprehensive practice management software system for agencies, schools, and private ABA practices that provide services to individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). 

Leila is a Certified Special Educator and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst with over 27 years of experience working with children with autism and special needs. Since 1997, she has used ABA methods for the treatment of learners with ASD in school, home, and community settings. Leila has designed curricula, conducted workshops, counseled families, and directed small and large teams of educators to provide treatment in public schools and home settings. 

Here, Leila shares her career journey and how she ultimately came to create ABA Toolbox. She covers all of the features of the ABA Toolbox program, including data collection, onboarding, and more. We also discuss the importance of value-based care, how ABA Toolbox can help professionals overcome on-the-job challenges, and advice for newly minted BCBAs. 

On Thursday, November 12th, at 12pm EST, Leila is joining us on a webinar focused on value-based care. For more information and to sign up, head to our website!

What’s Inside:

• How Leila developed ABA Toolbox and the problems it solves
• Details of our upcoming webinar with Leila
• Advice for new BCBAs

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ABA Toolbox
Leila Farshchian on LinkedIn

Let's face it, one-to-one ABA is awesome, but it's not realistic forever and ever. We really want our learners to start paying attention, responding and learning in group situations. Therefore, at some point we need to practice some whole group instruction. Here, we cover how to do it and how to come up with the best way to initiate and facilitate whole group instruction.

In this discussion, we define whole-group instruction and talk about the benefits of choral responding. We also discuss why groups are so beneficial for younger kids, how to have more experienced learners model new skills, and how to incorporate direct instruction techniques.
 

What’s Inside:

• How to initiate and facilitate whole group instruction
• Benefits of choral responding
• How to incorporate direct instruction

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Direct Instruction Programs

In order for children to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks, they need good executive functioning skills. Many children with autism and other developmental delays lack these critical skills that come naturally to other kids. Here, we discuss how to teach executive functioning skills effectively to our learners. Executive functioning skills include time management, emotional control, working memory, and task initiation.

When it comes to executive functioning, the earlier we can introduce these skills to our learners the better. We break down the various skills so they’re easier to teach. In many cases, we teach our kids valuable life skills, but it’s important to build in the foundation of executive functioning so they’re more successful. We also talk about visual and auditory memory, setting up the right situations to teach skills and introduce concepts, and more. 

What’s Inside:

• Examples of executive functioning skills and why they’re important
• The importance of including executive functioning when teaching basic life skills
• How to set up the right situations to teach skills and introduce concepts

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