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| The Science of Effective Learning Environments: The Importance of Stimulus Control for Students With Autism |
| Saturday, May 24, 2014 |
| 8:00 AM–11:00 AM |
| W185d (McCormick Place Convention Center) |
| Area: AUT/PRA; Domain: Applied Research |
| CE Instructor: Kathleen McCabe-Odri, Ed.D. |
| KATHLEEN MCCABE-ODRI (Partners in Learning, Inc.), JENNIFER CORNELY (Partners in Learning, Inc.), LAUREN DEGRAZIA (Partners in Learning, Inc.), NICOLE M. RZEMYK (Partners in Learning, Inc.), NICOLE PEASE (Partners in Learning, Inc.) |
| Description: Many educators struggle with how to teach the learner with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Traditional educational settings often fail to structure classrooms that minimize errors and maximize success for ASD students. Teaching staff may attempt to prompt correct responses, yet fail to establish the environmental antecedent as a discriminative stimulus; thus, these discrete skills fail to generalize into applied, independent behavior. Acquisition rates are low in these settings, while prompting rates and dependency on supports remain high. Despite the use of rewards and corrections in these ineffective classes, the properties for operant behavior change via reinforcement and punishment procedures are not in place. This workshop provides participants with a structured tutorial for classroom applications on how to establish stimulus control, identify antecedent events, and best provide procedures for stimulus discrimination learning. The workshop addresses other key processes for effective learning environments, such as stimulus generalization, the forming of stimulus classes, and the role stimulus equivalence plays in higher order processes such as social behavior. In addition, this tutorial helps participants identify possible barriers to establishing stimulus control, such as masking and overshadowing. The distinction between stimulus prompts and response prompts and their effects on learning rates are examined. |
| Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this workshop, the participant will be able to (1) identify key processes for effective learning environments; (2) apply methods to establish stimulus control, stimulus generalization, forming stimulus classes, and stimulus equivalence to classroom learning situations; (3) identify possible barriers to establishing stimulus control and use techniques discussed to minimize those effects on skill acquisition; and (4) distinguish between stimulus prompts and response prompts to better address the needs of students. |
| Activities: Instructional strategies include lecture, discussion, small group breakout, video demonstrations, and materials for identifying effective learning strategies and possible barriers to skill acquisition. |
| Audience: BACB certificants, licensed psychologists, behavior consultants, classroom teachers, and child study team case managers. |
| Content Area: Practice |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |