Video modeling is a powerful, evidence-based tool that can help children learn to talk. I had a client who I'm going to talk to you about whose name is Kurt and he went from having 10 words in two hours to having a hundred words in two hours using this powerful tool: video modeling. Using…
Many kids with autism or signs of autism are prompt dependent. But it's not the child's fault as prompt dependency is caused by well-meaning adults who are trying to help the child gain skills, but not necessarily fading prompts quick enough. This can be really detrimental to a child's independence so today I am going…
In February 2020, Michelle’s daughter was given an autism diagnosis, but while she was lining all of the specialists up, the COVID shutdown occurred. Suddenly without the support she was counting on to help her, Michelle purchased my online course. In just six weeks, Michelle’s daughter went from only two words to around 500 words. Even I was amazed by the huge progress Elaina had, and I knew I just had to hear her story.
In high school, Emaley McCulloch found her passion, and while it was the children with autism that drew her to the field, it was the science that got her hooked. After recognizing how hard it was to travel from place to place training ABA therapists, Emaley started Autism Training Solutions, an online education company that trains professionals and parents in evidence-based autism interventions, no matter where they’re at in the world.
When you’re first introduced to the autism field, whether you’re a fresh-faced professional or a confused parent, it’s very easy to become overwhelmed. There are so many different autism models to focus on – how are you supposed to know what to choose? My interviewee, Tracy Vail, is an expert on many different methodologies and will be able to lead you through the autism treatment maze.
Teaching real-world skills to children with autism can be very difficult for parents, teachers and even trained behavioral analysts. I, for one, had to teach my son, Lucas, the same and different in 16 different trials. Dr. Janet Twyman is an expert in instructional strategies and shares how reinforcement shaping, critical discrimination, observing and testing helps with effectively teaching academics and real-world skills to kids with autism.
The fourth area where people get stuck is self care. In this five-part stuck series, I want to talk about the five areas that I see parents and professionals get the most stuck. In Part 1 I talked about assessing language when a child is nonvocal. Part 2 was about teaching receptive language skills, and...
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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]As a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, I know how important language is for children with autism or signs of autism. I’ve worked with many nonverbal children both in person and through my online courses, and have figured out what works and what doesn’t when teaching a toddler to talk. These same techniques work for older kids with autism who may be considered a nonverbal child too. In the past, I’ve called kids that don’t yet speak <a href="https://marybarbera.com/non-verbal-vs-non-vocal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“non-vocal” instead of “non-verbal”</a> because technically even infants who cry for a bottle or for a diaper change are verbal. But lately, I’ve switched back to nonverbal because it’s what most people use to describe children with little to no speech. I’ve also met few children who are not saying anything as most nonverbal children often babble, many say a few words “here and there,” and some even talk in little phrases that are not functional.
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<div class="more-link-container"><a class="more-link" href="https://marybarbera.com/teach-nonverbal-child-start-talking/#more-10772">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">How to Teach a Nonverbal Child to Start Talking</span></a></div>
Conditional discrimination errors are very common in children with autism, especially intermediate learners. When we say conditional discrimination, we mean that a child makes errors. Say you have a paper towel versus toilet paper, they're very similar. The child makes an error not because they're not paying attention, but because they don't have the language skills for that finer discrimination
<center><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PL0_NcGwhzOki67i-VxyisSww-lTkAYHsv" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></center><div class="more-link-container"><a class="more-link" href="https://marybarbera.com/conditional-discrimination-autism/#more-10463">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Conditional Discrimination in Kids with Autism</span></a></div>
