This workshop is designed to teach parents and educators how to effectively manage problem behaviors that are often exhibited by children with autism or other developmental delays. Behaviors such as noncompliance with instructions or routines, whining/crying, tantrums, physically aggressive or self-injurious behaviors, obsessive routines, toileting and sleeping related problems are often concerns for parents and educators. This workshop specifically addresses practical issues and will provide methods for analyzing problem situations and developing strategies to solve those concerns.

Parents often have questions and want to learn how to encourage their child to behave in an appropriate manner. Attempts to get a child with language delays to “go along with us,” are complicated by the fact that the child often doesn’t understand what we are trying to get them to do or not to do. Another critical factor is the fact that many of these children are not motivated by the typical praise and recognition that is often used to teach typically developing children. As a result, parents and instructors often find it a challenging task to get the child to do what we ask of them.

This workshop introduces the principles, strategies, and evidence-based techniques used to encourage appropriate behavior.  It is designed primarily for parents, teachers, instructional assistants, and in-home tutors to learn practical actions they can take to increase a child’s cooperation and to reduce instances of problematic behavior that prevent the child from engaging in everyday family and school activities (e.g., sitting at the table and eating with others, participating in learning tasks while doing routine daily activities, going to the grocery store without a tantrum, toileting issues, etc.)

Specific Objectives:

• Participants will be able to identify the basic behavioral principles used to analyze both appropriate and undesired behavior.
  
• Participants will learn how to increase appropriate behavior by developing positive instructional control, and teaching alternative behaviors.
• Participants will learn how to observe behavior to determine why a behavior is or isn’t occurring and its probable function(s).
• Participants will learn how to structure situations so as to encourage desired behavior and avoid unwanted behavior.
• Participants will learn how to use simple but effective data collection procedures.

About the Presenter

Dr. Partington is the founder and director of Partington Behavior Analysts in California and is internationally-recognized as a leader in the field of autism treatment.  He has over 49 years of designing and implementing effective language-based programs for individuals with a diagnosis of autism.  He has always valued the importance of using his expertise to help others live happier and more fulfilling lives. He is the author of The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills-Revised (The ABLLS-R®) which is a skills-tracking system used around the world as well as in many school districts. He is the co-author of The AFLS: The Assessment of Functional Living Skills, which assesses functional living skills for everyday life. He has passed on his knowledge of Applied Behavior Analysis and Verbal Behavior as a professor at several major universities and through his publications (e.g., in major scientific journals and books), workshops, and training seminars. He served for six years as a member on the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. To date, he has worked in 31 countries outside of the United States and some of his publications have been translated into numerous languages.

Dr. Partington has established and monitored clinical intervention services in Egypt, Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia. He has recently begun to provide training to staff in Saudi Arabia, Moscow and Kazakhstan. In the last 8 years, he has begun to provide consultation and training to programs that provide services to adults. One of his latest projects involves the integration of adults with autism into the workforce in Taiwan.

Currently, Dr. Partington is on the faculty of Consorzio Universitario Humanitas in Rome, and continues to provide training seminars, workshops, and publications to audiences across the world. His goal is to simplify the teaching process for parents, teachers, educators, and other professionals who teach or want to teach skills to individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

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