By John A. Toscano, MSW, MBA President and Chief Executive Officer In the wide-ranging field of human services, we have a positive bias towards partnering. Our field is replete with many forms of mutual working, i.e. coalitions, consortiums, alliances, networks, information sharing, cooperation, coordination and collaboration. I believe this emanates from our shared belief that…
Local Educational Programs Announce Partnership The Founders Center and Northstar Academy collaborating to serve children with special education needs. For Immediate Release Two Richmond-based educational programs began a collaborative partnership this week that will help maximize opportunities for children with special education needs. Northstar Academy, a private nonprofit school in Henrico County, will host a school-age…
By Rachel Reynolds, MA, CCC-SLP, BCaBA, LaBA For children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder or other developmental disabilities, oral communication skills are often delayed. When a child is unable to communicate effectively with his or her environment, this often leads to frustration and (sometimes) challenging behavior. However, with proactive, language based interventions, children can…
By Amanda Buchmeier, M.S., BCBA, LBA Registered Behavior Technicians are required to be supervised for 5% of the hours spent providing behavior-analytic services per month. Here are five strategies for making the most of that time and setting supervision up for success: Use a Supervision Contract At the onset of supervision, review and sign a…
By Amanda Buchmeier, M.S., BCBA, LBA As behavior analysts, much of our time is spent providing coaching and training to the staff responsible for implementing behavioral interventions. Direct care staff may have limited knowledge of the principles of applied behavior analysis and the use of behavior analytic strategies; therefore, we may need to change staff behavior in order to change clients’ behavior. Taking the time to build rapport with staff before…
A recent paper published in the Annual Review of Public Health (Lyall et al., 2017) offers a summary of the state of the science with respect to the epidemiology (i.e., the incidence, distribution, and possible control) of autism. This abstract quotes the main conclusions of that paper. PHENOTYPE AND DIAGNOSIS Onset of ASD symptoms…
In an increasingly multicultural country, clinicians and educators in the US are often confronted with autism spectrum disorder in children from bilingual or multilingual families. A persistent concern has been raised as to whether the language development of children with ASD is further delayed or disrupted because of exposure to two (or more) languages in…
A report in the Washington Post dated November 13, 2015 had the headline “Autism cases in U.S. jump to 1 in 45.” The story opened with the paragraph: “The number of autism cases in the United States appeared to jump dramatically in 2014 according to new estimates released Friday, but researchers said that changes in…
A recent report published on-line by Lancet (Pickles et al., 2016) maintains that a parent-mediated intervention for children with autism has produced the first “long-term symptom reduction after a randomized controlled trial of early intervention in autism spectrum disorder” (p. 1; on-line version). The follow-up study examined a range of outcomes for 121 children who participated in…
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a relatively recent technology that has been FDA-approved for the treatment of depression and migraine with aura. TMS uses a magnetic field to stimulate specific areas of the brain. In recent years, there has been interest in applying TMS to treat other conditions, including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), on an…