Join us for a two-day in-person, immersive symposium designed to empower caregivers and educators in their support of individuals with autism.
"Together We Thrive" brings together experts, caregivers, educators, and related service professionals to gain knowledge, best practices, and experiences in fostering the growth and development of learners with autism.
Day 1 AM - Fortify Your Lessons with Active Student Responding
Presenter - William L. Heward, Ed.D., BCBA-D
Students with disabilities deserve maximum benefits from the instruction they receive. One of the most reliable and powerful things a teacher can do to improve educational outcomes for learners with autism—for any student—is to increase active student responding (ASR). Teachers know student engagement is important, and high rates of ASR are often seen in 1-to-1 tutoring arrangements. The challenge is providing every student with sufficient response opportunities during group instruction. This workshop will begin by defining ASR, differentiating it from other forms of student engagement, and briefly reviewing the research evidence for increasing ASR. Most of the workshop will be devoted to information about and demonstrations of a variety of relatively easy-to-implement ASR tactics for whole-class, small-group, or one-to-one instructional formats. Videos of highly skilled teachers implementing these the tactics will be shown. The session will conclude with guidelines for ensuring students benefit maximally from their more frequent responding. Participants will receive resources for implementing the ASR tactics in their classrooms, centers, and programs.
Day 1 PM - Contracting with Kids: A Positive Way to Teach New Skills and Improve
Family Dynamics Responding
Presenter - Jill C. Dardig and William L. Heward
First developed in the 1970s, contingency contracting is a behavior change strategy that identifies a task to be completed and a reward to follow successful accomplishment of the task. Peer-reviewed research studies has demonstrated the effectiveness of contracting to improve behavior and teach new skills to children with autism and neurotypical children in school, home, and community settings. For example, Alwahbi and Hua (2021) used contracting to promote social interactions among students with ASD and their peers. In their meta-analysis of contracting research, Bowman-Perrott et al. (2015) concluded that “behavior contracts are beneficial for students regardless of grade level, gender, or disability status” (p. 247). Examples of contracts used by families to help children with and without disabilities fulfill household responsibilities, learn new skills, get ready for school in the morning, and make friends at school will be presented during the workshop. Participants will develop contracts and receive materials (in English and Spanish) for developing, implementing, and evaluating contracts field-tested by more than 300 families.
Day 2 AM - A Teacher-Centered Approach to Building Better Programs for Students with Autism and Extensive Support Needs
In this session, Dr. Pennington will describe a practical approach to supporting educators in improving their teaching practice and reigniting their love for teaching. This session, geared towards administrators, coaches, and educators, will situate practical "one step at a time" professional growth within the real-life complexities of the classroom and leave attendees feeling hopeful about ensuring the best programs possible for their students.
Presenter - Rob Pennington, PhD, BCBA-D
Day 2 PM - From Shopping List to Shakespeare: Teaching Writing to Students with Autism and Extensive Support Needs
Presenter - Rob Pennington, PhD, BCBA-D
The development of written expression skills is essential to success in a range of critical life domains, including academic performance, employment, and social interaction. Despite its importance, there has been little guidance from the research literature on strategies to teach students with complex support needs to write. In this exciting session, Dr. Pennington will describe a behavioral approach to teaching written expression to students with autism and intellectual disability. Further, he will distill findings from a decade of research investigations into practical teaching strategies for educators to implement quickly in their classrooms. Dr. Pennington will draw on decades of experience in classroom settings to engage participants as they work through activities and learn powerful new concepts.