Recorded: Becoming the Token: The Case Against Token Boards, Schedules, and Timers

**This course will provide the participant with 1.5 Learning Type BACB CEU**

NOTE: Some "R" rated language (don't worry the language is not that extreme), but we want to keep it real in case you have little ears around!

Description of Learning Type CE Event: Description of Learning Type CE Event: Caregivers, school staff, therapists, and professional support staff are often trained in the use of “accommodations and supports” for children with autism. They are a helpful means of setting up our children for success, specifically those that learn uniquely and in ways that require multiple forms of hints and assistance. Antecedent manipulations are well-studied in the literature and are used heavily within behavior-analytic treatment as a means of preventing challenging behavior. However, antecedent manipulations grow overused when we insist that children with autism must be protected, rescued, or hidden from aversive stimuli/punishing events. Even further, it is a common misconception among learners with autism that they require structure and routine more so than the typical child or the typical human in general. This is not only misleading, but it is inaccurate in that change can be conditioned stimulus for multiple people---not only those with disabilities. There are minimal populations that take disruptions to their routine in stride and are perfectly equipped to tolerate the bad surprises that are a normal part of life. This being said, overuse of timers, token boards, and schedules does not provide support to our learners, it simply acts as short-term avoidance rather than a long-term, proactive intervention. This CE Event provides insight into the use of antecedent strategies to promote positive behavior change, the limitations to exclusively using reinforcement, and proposed programs to build tolerance to ambiguity, uncertainty, and disruptions.

About the Instructor: After a grueling year of treatment for anorexia and panic disorder, I found myself itching to dig sandcastles in the minds of other people as an attempt to help and heal. I graduated with my first Masters in Clinical Psychology, believing that I could bring an unconventional and less stuffy/sanitized approach to therapy by coming to people instead of forcing them into a generic, Pinterest-looking office. I stumbled into a therapeutic day school treating adolescents with severe mental illness, only to find that my eccentric approach was frowned upon by administrators and “the field” of psychology. How could this possibly be?! In a fog of resentment, I huffed and puffed into an autism classroom to cover for yet another social worker that had called it quits---only to find myself captivated by the principles of ABA! It seemed that behavior analysis really could be applied to all facets of life, not only children; how else could I callus my own emotional skin using this science? I immediately enrolled in The Chicago School’s ABA program, got my BCBA, and began working primarily with caregivers in off-the-wall places. I would meet them inside of Hobby Lobby and hold their hand (literally and figuratively) through the Christmas decorations aisle, as this specific lane of doom triggered thousands of hours of tantrums in their child’s past. I found caregiver coaching to be my niche area, which led me to write my book, Behavior Surge--- a compassionate, off-kilter manual for both caregivers and professionals to use as a guide in navigating their reality. I am now ankle-deep into my second book, one that addresses aberrant reinforcers, confrontation-seeking behavior, and different directions that ABA can take to better serve older populations with advanced verbal repertoires.

Target Audience: Behavior Analysts, School Staff, and Caregivers would likely benefit most from this presentation, as it provides a more feasible and natural means of recruiting and sustaining motivation.

To earn credit, you will be required to attend the live online session and pass a quiz about it with a score of 80% or higher. You can retake the quiz as many times as needed, but you may not receive exactly the same questions each time.