Shane Finkelstein is one of Shana’s original ABA clients from 20 years ago and is here to talk about his experience with autism. Ever since Shane was young, he had several social problems and was having trouble fitting in with people outside his family. He was diagnosed with autism at the age of two, which is also when he began ABA therapy. ABA helped Shane develop good social skills as well as a good work ethic. He attended several public schools where he excelled academically, but struggled socially. That changed when he started attending a special needs camp and school. Through school, camp, and ABA therapy, Shane is now able to form meaningful relationships with other people while still being himself.

Shane shares his favorite aspects of ABA, especially weekend outings, which helped him form healthy relationships and thrive in social settings. We also talked to Shane about the skills he’s currently working on and his experience in the workforce. Shane also shared with us a poster he created on the last day of his contract. You can take a closer look at the poster here: www.howtoaba.com


What’s Inside:

• How ABA had a positive impact in Shane’s life.
• Shane’s experience in the workforce.
• All about the poster Shane create on the last day of his contract.
• Advice Shane would give to his younger self.

Mentioned In This Episode:
HowToABA.com/join
How to ABA on YouTube
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Shane on Facebook

Disclaimer:
Testimonials herein are unpaid and unsolicited. Experiences of those who have provided testimonials do not guarantee future results. None of the information shared in this interview is from a current client.

Erin Porter is a family autism coach from Ontario, Canada. As a teacher, she noticed some gaps in the school system and began to fill them in. She also noticed there was a parental piece missing, so she applied everything she knew about teaching and programming to supporting parents who have newly diagnosed children with autism. Erin helps parents fill in their own gaps while they wait for funding or to come off waitlists so they can get started with early intervention. Receiving a diagnosis can be an overwhelming time for parents and Erin walks them through the next steps in their own unique journeys.

Erin shares her thoughts on the major gaps and challenges she sees. Some of the challenges start before the diagnosis, including how to talk to doctors. Understanding communication is key as well as navigating services. Parents can also be apprehensive to take action and prefer to “wait and see”, but early intervention and establishing a connection are so important. The gap often gets wider when parents wait and Erin supports parents in trying different things, even before there’s a diagnosis. We also talk to Erin about how she supports parents through her Guided Autism Program.

What’s Inside:

• Common gaps when it comes to supporting parents of children with a diagnosis.
• Why early intervention is essential.
• Information on Erin’s Guided Autism Program.

Mentioned In This Episode:
HowToABA.com/join
How to ABA on YouTube
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Instagram
Launching Life with Autism – Facebook Group
Guided Autism Program Website

Functional communication, or FCT, is a way to decrease problem behavior through teaching effective communication skills. Shira once had a student who had a ton of language. He would talk all the time in sentences and communicate what he wanted to do, but he didn’t request things. He sometimes engaged in negative attention-seeking behavior but didn’t know how to appropriately get attention. She taught him how to mand for attention by using text cues, which is an FCT technique, and he stopped engaging in aggression.

All behavior is communication, and they’re two sides of the same coin. Kids don’t misbehave because they’re bad or challenging, they’re trying to get attention to get their needs met and it’s often effective. With FCT, we are looking at how to increase the skill and give the child a replacement for the negative or unwanted behavior. The replacement needs to be faster, easier, and better than the negative behavior. Here, we discuss where to start when teaching mands, how to collect data, and how to avoid developing chains of responses by using transfer trials.

What’s Inside:

• What FCT is and how it helps correct unwanted behavior.
• Where to start when teaching mands.
• How to collect data.
• The importance of transfer trials.

Mentioned In This Episode:
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The Purpose of Transfer Trials

In preparation for a CEU event we’re hosting all about how to use AAC devices, we are rebroadcasting our Linggo episode with Ling Ly Tan and Jane Button. 

They are from Linggo, a company that makes communication accessible for people who have difficulty speaking. Linggo is an assistive technology that supports the learning of language, speech, and literacy skills through an AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) platform. Ling’s a BCBA and has been working in the field for almost two decades. Jane worked on the front lines with children in her community and then became a trained clinician and consultant.

Linggo was built out of Ling’s frustration with AACs that were hard to use and not the best for her clients. Nearly 60% abandon their AAC within the first year, which is unfortunate because it can be such a vital tool for language development. Linggo also provides parent training for clinicians and parents to help generalize communication. Communication is so complex, and it requires an interdisciplinary team approach. The focus should always be on the best interest of the child. Linggo is customized based on each individual client, unlike traditional, one-size-fits-all systems.

On March 29th, we’re hosting a CEU event that dives deeper into Linggo and AAC devices. Find out more by heading to the events page of our website, linked below.

What’s Inside:

• How Linggo is improving AAC systems and language development.
• Recommendations for interdisciplinary collaboration for those using an AAC.
• How to work with parents when introducing them to an AAC and accepting a diagnosis.

Mentioned In This Episode:
HowToABA.com/join
How to ABA on YouTube
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Linggo
CEU Events

BCBA Kat Savino is the Community Manager at How To ABA. If you’re a member, you’ve likely seen Kat in our community, Q&A sessions, and our journal clubs. Kat was one of our first podcast guests and as we learned more about her, we realized we needed her on the team. You can get to know Kat through our membership community board, where she connects members with available resources. Kat also does supervision for those needing fieldwork experience and one-on-one mentorships for newly minted BCBAs.

Kat has a ton of supervision experience and here, she talks about what’s lacking in the field and suggestions for improvement. Sometimes, a geographical location may not have enough available supervisors or there may not be any available in the workplace. Supervision doesn’t end as soon as you pass your exam, and it’s important for new practitioners to get quality support as they begin their career journey. We also discuss the challenges faced by new BCBAs, how leaning on a community can decrease burnout and overwhelm, and Kat’s must-have programming resources.

What’s Inside:
—How to get to know Kat through our community
—Challenges faced by new BCBAs
—Kat’s must-have programming resources
—Upcoming community events

Mentioned In This Episode:
HowToABA.com/join
How to ABA on YouTube
Find us on Facebook
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Dr. Alan Schnee is a Ph.D., BCBA-D, consultant, author, and speaker. Dr. Schnee began his career in the early 90s in the Boston area, where he trained as a pediatric psychologist. A colleague and friend of his had a son on the autism spectrum. This friend brought in consultants to work with her son, and she was astounded at his progress.  The experience inspired Dr. Schnee and his colleague to jump into the world of ABA. When the tools of ABA are applied well, it makes a huge difference in the lives of children and their families.

Here, we talk to Dr. Schnee all about matching. Matching is really the ability to make a comparison or to see how things line up. As professionals, we often teach simple matching skills to our students, but matching can also be used as a vehicle to teach many other things.  Dr. Schnee discusses how to use matching to build social awareness and develop better executive function. He also walks through several real-life examples, including when to introduce higher-level matching techniques, how BCBAs can incorporate more creative thinking in our programs, and more.

What’s Inside:

• How matching can be used to build other skills.
• How and when to introduce higher-level matching techniques.
• How to incorporate more creative thinking in our programs.
• Why it’s important to be super-aware of our learners.

Mentioned In This Episode:
HowToABA.com/join
How to ABA on YouTube
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Instagram
Early Intervention for Children with ASD

Life skills are a critical part of the success of our students. They’re needed in order for them to become as independent as possible in their lives. Here, we cover the best ways to assess life skills and how to make a plan of which skills our learners need to know. We spend so much time working on academic goals with our students, like learning to read and write. However, we forget that those goals are such a small part of their overall life and don’t have much of an impact on how they’ll live on their own. Things like taking public transportation, getting to a job, and doing the laundry are all valuable life skills that are just as important.

We dive into the definition of life skills and what the term can mean for different individuals and their own unique situations. Life skills really start in preschool, and we discuss how to build the right foundation and plant the seeds that will grow as they become teens and young adults. We also share some of the different assessments available that you can use. In many cases, you don’t even need to do a full assessment and just take the parts that are most relevant to your learner.

What’s Inside:

• Why it’s important to start teaching life skills at a young age.
• Examples of life skills assessments and how to use them.
• The importance of tasks when teaching life skills.

Mentioned In This Episode:
HowToABA.com/join
How to ABA on YouTube
Find us on Facebook
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BCBA Emily Varon is a sleep educator. We’ve spoken to Emily in a past episode where we discussed the importance of sleep. Lately, Emily has been diving into a new passion, which is burnout in the field of ABA. There is definitely a strong relationship between burnout and poor sleep and Emily went down the rabbit hole of researching all the data she could. She started talking about this concept more with ABA professionals with the goal of reducing burnout and becoming more well-rested and rejuvenated. Here, we chat with Emily about what burnout is and the domino effect it often leads to.

Burnout doesn’t just impact us as ABA professionals. The parents we work with experience this in their own lives, so it’s important for us to be able to pour from a full cup. The hardest part about burnout is how quickly it can creep up on us. We discuss some of the things that contribute to burnout, like a lack of supervision and being stretched too thin. We also talk about how to tap into our reinforcers, the challenges new and seasoned BCBAs face that can lead to burnout, and potential strategies and solutions to ease overwhelm.

We’re hosting a free webinar with Emily on burnout on March 1st at 8pm EST. For more information, click the link below.

What’s Inside:

• The connections between poor sleep and burnout.
• What contributes to burnout and its impacts is has on our lives.
• Challenges faced by new and seasoned BCBAs that can lead to burnout.

Mentioned In This Episode:
HowToABA.com/join
How to ABA on YouTube
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When we discuss reinforcement, we usually think of things like token boards and other ABA therapist strategies. However, learners can also be taught to regulate their own behavior and become active participants in their own learning through behavior contracts. Here, we dive into the definition of behavior contracts and how we can use them. A behavior contract is a written agreement that outlines expectations, timeframes, and rewards for specific behaviors.

With many students, a behavior contract isn’t the first intervention, it’s something we work towards. Students who are already familiar with and understand a token system can more easily transition into a behavior contract. As students get older, it’s important for them to be responsible for their own goals. Behavior contracts give them ownership over their lives and access to their own reinforcers. We discuss the benefits of this strategy, how to introduce the concept to students, and tips for making your behavior contracts a success.

What’s Inside:

• The benefits of behavior contracts and how to use them.
• Which students benefit the most from behavior contracts.
• Tips to make your behavior contracts successful.

Mentioned In This Episode:
HowToABA.com/join
How to ABA on YouTube
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Episode 070: The Importance of Self-Monitoring with Jamie Salter & Katie Croce

Valori Neiger is an autism feeding specialist. For any of us who have been in the field, we know that a lot of the kids we work with really struggle with feeding. When Valori reached out to us, of course, we had to have her join us on the show. She started her ABA journey in undergraduate school in the early 2000s, where she was introduced to psychology. Dr. Greg Madden, a pioneer in behavior economics, was a guest speaker in one of Valori’s classes and wanted to recruit students into an ABA track. Valori left class totally hooked and was inspired to get into the field. She then went on to graduate school where she gained valuable experience in a wide variety of areas. Valori relocated to Seattle after school, and she eventually worked in the specialty of feeding.

Through her work, Valori realized there was a huge demand for help with feeding concerns and the wait for families can be really long. Valori also started a blog as a way to help families and providers serving the population. We chat with Valori about how feeding falls under ABA, the biggest challenges to feeding when working with kids with autism, and suggestions on how to work on feeding flexibility. If you’re interested in learning more about Valori and her work, check out her blog by clicking the link below. We’re also hosting a webinar with Valori on feeding on Friday, February 24th at 12 pm EST. For more details and to become a member of How To ABA, head to our website.

What’s Inside:

• How Valori got into a career as an autism feeding specialist.
• How feeding can be incorporated into a team-based model.
• Steps to work on feeding flexibility.
• Tips for professionals and parents.
• Info on our upcoming webinar.

Mentioned In This Episode:
HowToABA.com/join
How to ABA on YouTube
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Instagram
Autism Feeding Specialist Blog
5 Ways to Improve Mealtime Flexibility