The Autism Helper Podcast

Alicia Trautwine is the author behind The Mom Kind. Alicia is autistic, the parent to 4 children and 3 of Alicia’s kids are on the spectrum. In this interview, Alicia shares the story of both her and her kids’ diagnosis, how being autistic impacts how she parents, and what advice she has for educators. Alicia’s positivity and honesty is inspiring and her energy is refreshing! Website: www.themomki...

This high request episode explores how to use prompts efficiently and effectively. Prompts are teaching tools we add to a situation to help a learner be successful. I explore the different types of prompts and how/when to use them. Knowing how to fade prompts is as important as how you use them. I cover three strategies for prompt fading: Least to Most Prompting, Most to Least Prompting, and Time...

Dr. Mary Barbera, BCBA, is an author, parent, nurse, and BCBA. In this recording, Dr. Barbera did a special webinar for The Autism Helper Professional Development Membership. Dr. Barbera shared what the verbal behavior approach is, gave the details of her new book - Turn Autism Around, and reviewed why early intervention is so essential. LINKS Turn Autism Around: An Action Guide for Parents of You...

Every decision is shaped by your skills and abilities to perform the task and your motivation to act or not act based on options available. One of the most powerful behavior tools in my toolbox is approaching challenging behaviors with a Can’t Do or Won’t Do approach. Assess the root of the issue by looking at if the work or demand is too hard and you need to adjust the task or there is not enough...

In this episode, Meghan Roberson, a dual-certified SLP and BCBA and the Owner/Director of Anchor ABA shares the Sensory Pyramid or "Pyramid of Learning." Meghan explains how there is often a lack of training and general awareness that the impact of dysregulation can have on all types of behavior. Increased understanding on this topic can cause an important shift in mindset on how to approa...

Activity schedules are a great way to teach leisure skills and promote independence. Special education teacher and BCBA, Christina Abadir, shares options for ways to set up activity schedules in the classroom or home setting. She gives a wide range of examples and setup options and explores ways to differentiate for virtual instruction and a socially distant classroom. Click here to find out more...

Executive functions are mental skills that we use everyday to get things done. They can be thought as the management system of the brain. These skills are essential for academic, social, and functional success. Former special education teacher, BCBA, and behavior coach, Lisa Berluti, explores executive functions and how both teachers and parents can help cultivate these skills. Lisa shares example...

ENCORE EPISODE Transitioning is a skill that some of our learners may benefit from more instruction on. In this episode learn my 7 tips for teaching students to tolerate transitions effectively. I focus on evidence based antecedent interventions. We want to prevent the problem behavior before it starts. Identify tweaks or additions you can add to your classroom to make transitions better and less...

ENCORE EPISODE Reinforcement is a term that's thrown around a lot however it's commonly misunderstood and misused. Reinforcement is something that comes after a behavior that causes an increase in the probability of that behavior happening again in the future. There are two big warnings signs I see when I think, "This isn't actually reinforcement." When I am told a "reinfor...

ENCORE EPISODE In a school setting, working on teams is always part of the job. However, teamwork is hard. It can be even more challenging when working with colleagues who are "difficult". You may have colleagues who are pushy, overly opinionated, or aggressive. This can add stress to your day and impact your happiness at work. In this episode, we take an ABA approach to collaboration. I s...

ENCORE EPISODE All behavior is communication - even behavior that is disruptive, dangerous, and aggressive. Those behaviors are communicating something and they are communicating it loudly. While you are in the process of finding and implementing an effective and function-based intervention for dangerous student behaviors such as aggression or running, the day to day obstacles can be huge. Handlin...

ENCORE EPISODE In this episode, I interview Dr. Megan Miller on strategies for approaching challenging behaviors while consistently looking at maintaining the dignity and respect for students. Megan Miller, Ph. D., BCBA-D, LBA is the co-founder of Navigation Behavioral Consulting and the Chief Clinical Officer of LifeTribe. Dr. Miller is an author and presenter on best practices within Applied Beh...

ENCORE EPISODE Why do we forget about one of the most important parts of our job? Staff training doesn't seem to be a high priority on a day to day basis but it's actually what will give you the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to the overall success of your classroom. Getting your staff on the same page has a lasting impact on all areas of your room. In this episode, let's dis...

In this episode, special education teacher and BCBA, Jessica McNamara, shares what differential reinforcement is and why it’s so effective. Jessica expands on this topic by discussing how to utilize differential reinforcement with the context of token economy. She reviews different types of individualized token economies she uses for her students and why they are effective. Click here to find out...

Choice is important. It’s the foundation of functional independence, problem solving skills, and a sense of autonomy. BCBA, Margaret Hatteberg is sharing how to utilize choice as an antecedent intervention. This simple strategy can have a huge impact on increasing cooperation and decreasing negative behaviors. Click here to find out more info about The Autism Helper Professional Development Member...

Approaching behavior change from a proactive perspective is more likely to be effective and long lasting than a purely reactive strategy. In this episode, BCBA Natalie Odio, the owner of Onward Behavioral Services, shares how to use non-contingent reinforcement in a user friendly way. Natalie defines NCR and shares classroom based examples as well as examples from her own life. We discuss how to s...

Behavioral Momentum is an evidence based strategy that helps you take a proactive approach at helping your learners be successful with challenging demands. BCBA and Founder of Ability ABA, PLLC, Amy Foxman shares what behavioral momentum is and the steps for using it. Amy breakdowns why this strategy is effective and how teachers can share this strategy with their teams. Click here to find out mor...

A task analysis breaks down a complex behavior chain into specific behaviors. Jana Sarno, BCBA and Chief Clinical Officer for Autism in Motions Clinic, shares why creating a task analysis is helpful and how to do it. Jana gives examples of different skills this can be utilized for, what data you can collect, and - most importantly - what to do with that data! Click here to find out more info about...

When thinking about reducing problem behaviors, we actually want to focus on increasing missing positive behaviors. These replacement skills are essential to long lasting behavior change. When working with individuals with special needs who have a history of trauma, there are some special considerations we should make when approaching how to teach these skills and how to respond to negative behavi...

Shaping is a great way to meet students where they are at and helpful them be successful while learning a new skill. School based BCBA, Kristi Toward, walks us through the process of shaping, how to collect data, and why this strategy is so effective. Click here to find out more info about The Autism Helper Professional Development Membership:  https://theautismhelper.com/membership/ Want more inf...

We are 100 episodes into The Autism Helper Podcast! To celebrate, I am sharing some of my favorite moments from the past 99 episodes. Thank you for listening and supporting this podcast! If you enjoy this podcast, I would really appreciate it if you would leave a review! Thanks in advance! Click here to find out more info about The Autism Helper Professional Development Membership:  https://theaut...

As a teacher, one of the hardest parts about collecting consistent data is finding the time to do it. In today's episodes, BCBA and consultant Hannah Foltz shares an efficient and easy to utilize data collection method - momentary time sampling. Momentary time sampling can help give an approximation of the frequency of a behavior without a time intensive data collection process. Hannah shares...

There are many situations when a new negative behavior starts and we don’t know what to do next. We don’t yet know the function of the behavior and don’t want to unintentionally reinforce the response. In these situations, we should use the least reinforcing scenario. School Psychologist and BCBA, Shannon Shy, describes what the least reinforcing scenario is, how we can use it, and how it will cau...

Sometimes in life we are told no or we are told to wait. It’s not always fun and it’s not always easy. In this episode -  school based BCBA, Abbey Mix, shares how to approach this situation through a skill based mindset. We can identify that there may be a missing skill of knowing how to wait or knowing how to accept being told no. Once we can identify this missing skill, we can target teaching an...

It is essential to approach decreasing a negative behavior from a skills acquisition perspective. A negative behavior serves a function and we need to teach a new way to get access to that same function. Kate Patterson, a BCBA with both school and home-based experience, goes through the whole process of utilizing replacement behaviors. Kate shares how to get to the hypothesized function, what repl...