When my son, Lucas, celebrated his 18th birthday, he officially became an adult. He participated in some autism jobs for a few years prior to his 18th birthday through his IEP at school. The next summer as part of an Extended School Program (ESY), Lucas started volunteering at a local hotel for an hour each…
Hand Flapping in Kids with Autism Hand flapping is a common self stimulatory behavior for kids with autism. Today, I'm talking all about hand flapping and giving you insight on what to do about it. Have you ever been in a lecture where the material is way too easy or completely over your head? Or…
I’ve been consulting with children and a few adults with autism for many years now. I had a revelation soon after I published my book The Verbal Behavior Approach. I now believe that there are three main skills every child and adult with autism needs to be successful. These skills for autism, I believe, are the...
Knowing when a child with autism is ready to learn how to ask and answer questions is an important step in their language and learning development. That’s why I recommend Dr. Mark Sundberg’s VB-MAPP assessment to help you quickly discover what a child knows and how you can build on that knowledge. In this tutorial, I’ll teach you how I give an assessment, and I’ll share some pointers that I’ve discovered over the years.
So often we hear something along the lines of early intervention is best practice. This is true, but even still, young children are not usually sent for further assessments until closer to two or three. The good news is, if you're worried about early signs of autism in babies, there are steps you can take…
Early Childhood Intervention for Children with Autism Are you seeing delays in your child but scared to take the leap to get evaluated and start early childhood intervention services? One of the most critical things you can do for your child is to start intervention as soon as possible, whether they have autism, ADHD, a…
My husband (who is a physician) and I were not surprised when Lucas got the diagnosis of autism one day before his 3rd birthday in 1999 but what was shocking to both of us was that the doctor diagnosed him as having moderate to severe autism. We both thought that since Lucas had some language,...
The term “Intermediate Learner” is very subjective and in the ABA/VB field, this usually indicates that the manding, tacting and intraverbal areas on the ABLLS or VB-MAPP are not well developed. While the intermediate learner can mand for basic items and some actions, he or she is usually weak at manding for attention and information....
