The ABA Speech Podcast - Easy Strategies For Parents and Professionals

I love any opportunity to chat with adults with autism who can share their insight on diagnosis, support, and living life with autism. Billy Mayfair is a top professional golfer in the United States, who found his diagnosis late in life in 2019. Today he shares his journey in early life and the concerns that led to his evaluation, and how those answers have helped him find the support he needed.Growing up golf was a safe haven, he found joy in being alone. Unlike those who receive an early diagnosis, because Autism was not on the radar Bill did not have support in school. He found school to be very difficult and struggled all the way through. Billy's high school counselor even told him not to try to go to college, that he needed to just go out and get a job and struggle for the rest of his life. This was a huge motivator for him, propelling him into completing college and into his golf career. Billy's wife was instrumental in seeking a diagnosis. There was a pivotal moment during a golf tournament in which he was wrongly disqualified. When he did not comprehend what was happening and he wasn't speaking up for himself, his wife's concerns pushed him to an evaluation. Billy shares that even though he knew something was going on, he was reluctant to seek answers and even took weeks to actually read the findings report. One of Billy's key struggles throughout his adult life has been with thought delay presenting as unpleasant facial expressions. Oftentimes when he needed more time to think about something, he looked defiant and angry. He's learned that it's okay and even important to ask for more time to think or process. It's really key to self-advocacy. With this late in life diagnosis, Billy has adapted to new support such as seeing a neuropsychologist and even a nutritionist who is helping him connect the dots between his diet and his brain. Billy and his wife are currently working on starting a foundation to support athletes with autism and their family members.#autism #speechtherapyWhat’s Inside:What support helped Billy in school and early in life?The importance of self-advocacy.What concerns can lead to a late-in-life autism diagnosis?Supports Billy seeks as an adult with autism.Mentioned In This Episode: ABA Speech: HomeBilly Mayfair on TwitterThank you to this episode's sponsor Mightier - We make video games that help kids build their emotional strength.  Learn how to #beMightier at https://www.mightier.com/autismoutreach 

On today's podcast, I had the opportunity to learn from Haley Moss. Haley is an author, lawyer, educator, speaker, and is also autistic. In this episode, she shares her perspective on important issues in the autism and neurodivergent community, as we have a conversation surrounding inclusivity in therapy and society.  "Be yourself, but not like that".  It can be extremely exhausting for adults to keep up with behaviors that are seen as typical and don't come naturally to them. Haley compares Neurodivergent social skills to being bilingual. It's not that they don't have social skills, they are just different and no matter what or how they try to make them "alike" neurotypical individuals it will always come out with an "autistic accent".  She emphasizes the importance of teaching the reason behind typical social skills as cultural needs versus them being "better" or "normal". Everything someone does has a reason behind it and tying trust and understanding to that is really helpful. What is Neurodiversity?Neurodiversity is a difference in cognition in which everyone's brain works differently.  Neurotypical brains operate in ways that may be expected in a "normal" manner. Neurodivergent is a scope of operation involving the brain out of the box, outside of what would be "expected" ways to include autism, ADHD, mental health, intellectual disabilities, and acquired disabilities such as traumatic injury or illness. What is Ableism?Haley shares a definition from the Center for Disability Rights, "Ableism is a set of beliefs or practices that devalue and discriminate against people with physical, intellectual, or psychiatric disabilities and often rest on the assumption that people with disabilities need to be fixed in one way or another." Ableism is much more prevalent in society than people realize, especially in the manner of accessibility and that neurodivergent individuals are not given seats at the table for key discussions. Practicing Empathy in Your Therapy SessionsAs professionals, we truly want to help people. One of my goals with this podcast is to help therapists and providers do better by knowing better. Haley shares some of her tips from a neurodivergent perspective on how to be empathic as a provider. Behavior happens for a reason. Behavior can mean so many things, it's important to apply that by taking the whole person into account.Describe individuals' specific high and low support needs. These can evolve over time but when aware of these needs, individuals can advocate for themselves and other services can provide support where possible. I learned so much during this chat with Haley. If you'd like to learn more or connect with her, you can find her on her website and all social media platforms.#autism #speechtherapyWhat’s Inside:What is ableism?What is neurodivergent?How to be inclusive in your therapy practice.How to practice with empathy.What does true acceptance look like?Autism and social justice.Mentioned In This Episode: Haley MossABA Speech: Home

SLPs have such a broad scope. We get so much training in graduate school but creating specializations based on your passions really happens through your own research and work out in the field. So there are many areas that fall under the scope of speech therapy that not all SLPs understand completely or feel comfortable with. As my listeners know, Autism has become my area of focus, so I really did not have a lot of awareness or understanding about Dyslexia. This chat with Jeannette Roberes was so educating and informative for me.Jeannette is an SLP, software engineer, and educator who specializes in Dyslexia. Dyslexia is a combination of characteristics involving reading, writing, and talking. An individual with Dyslexia is going to struggle in one or all of these areas. Symptoms can include late talking, slow to learn words, and a severe delay in reading.Jeannette has made some great strides in advocating and educating on Dyslexia and how to support her students. She and her colleagues are working on a book to educate SLPs on how to appropriately assess, treat, and diagnose students presenting with Dyslexia. Her tips for intervention for Dyslexia revolve around a multisensory structured language approach involving decoding, fluency training, vocabulary, and comprehension. She says that a successful session is tapping into the essential components of teaching reading. Jeanette talks about the big five: Phonemic Awareness, Alphabetic Principle, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension. When working with Dyslexia or any literacy based skill, books are your greatest resource, there are so many activities that can be planned around one book even over the course of 4 sessions. It also instills a love of reading that is so important. Jeannette is really passionate about using diverse inclusive books in your literacy opportunities, because in our therapy sessions we are preparing students for a world in which they will interact with individuals who don’t always look like them. She calls books sliding glass doors, a stepping stone or path into a bigger world. She encourages families and therapists to read books reflecting both disabilities and different cultures. You can find out more about Jeannette on all social media platforms by searching in Bearly Articulating and check out her book, Technical Difficulties: Why Dyslexic Narratives Matter In Tech, available on Amazon. #autism #speechtherapy What’s Inside:What is Dyslexia?How to support students with Dyslexia.How to embed literacy in speech sessions.The importance of valuing diversity in literacy.Mentioned In This Episode:  Bearly Articulating Teaching Resources | Teachers Pay TeachersAmazon.com: Technical Difficulties: Why Dyslexic Narratives Matter In Tech eBook : Washington, Jeannette: Kindle Store ABA Speech: HomeABA SPEECH Your Autism Resource  

Today, I am providing 15 strategies for SLPs working in an ABA setting. I have had the opportunity to work in ABA settings in addition to traditional schools. Whether you're new to the ABA world or thinking about taking a position in a specialized setting, these tips are some that I find so helpful for you, your colleagues, and your clients. Learn about your work setting: Understand your role and how it fits into the existing set up of the facility. Do not hesitate to ask the important questions!Build rapport with staff: Sometimes collaboration comes easy and sometimes it can be difficult. Get to know your team members and build relationships to facilitate working together.Learn about the science of Applied Behavior Analysis: Onboarding is going to differ from setting to setting, if it's new to you, it's important your facility is offering you proper training. I offer two courses with ABA Speech, Help Me Find My Voice and Start Communicating Today, that are great options.Learn about common assessments: If you're new to an ABA setting, understanding testing from the BCBA side can really change your approach to therapy. My favorite is the VB-MAPP but there are others.Provide information about speech therapy: Keep it positive and disseminate your goals and scientific approach. Always frame it with your client's best interest in mind.Feel comfortable with the jargon: There are so many words, you may or may not use them in conversation but you need to understand what you're talking about in a clinical setting. Think about creating shared goals: Once you understand the assessment, you can create goals with other teachers. The power of communication is incredible and it is important to collaborate and share goals across the setting.Embed communication across the learner's day: Communication takes place all day long, students can really flourish when they have more opportunity for practice and data is being tracked by all staff.Streamline your data collection: Many providers take data in all sorts of ways, when a student is working on a goal across settings, keep data collection in one place so that it is accessible and functional.Have access to your students' behavior plan (if applicable): Understand how to plan antecedently for students' unsafe or problem behavior. Make a copy and keep it on hand. Additionally, plan your environment accordingly, you want to feel comfortable serving all of your students.Collaborate: If there are other staff members who are going to be having a lot of time with your students, take the time to teach them about communication. These are the staff that are the most critical to building rapport with. You are the team!Think about parent communication: This communication is going to differ greatly in a specialized setting versus a traditional school. Stay in the loop of what is common practice for your facility and what parents need from you as far as communication goes.How are you providing service to students: Structure of therapy and instruction will differ depending on students needs. This can be pushing in, pulling out, one on one, and group therapy.The SLP and the BCBA ethical code both discuss collaboration: This is important, there are barriers, and I'm here to support you. Agree to disagree: We do not have to agree on everything but one thing we can agree on is, we want to help our students. Make decisions based on data. If you're looking for more in depth information, you can check out my courses Help Me Find My Voice and Start Communicating Today. Also, be on the lookout in the coming months for my newest ASHA-approved course on SLPs in the ABA setting! I am also available for Discovery Calls if I can be of more service to you. See you next time! #autism #speechtherapy 

Today I had the pleasure of talking with my BCBA supervisor and trailblazer in the field. Kelle was introduced to the world of autism at a really young age, which led into special education and continued on to her large body of work. In this episode she is sharing with us, from her wealth of knowledge, about how to work with students with problem behavior and what to do to support learners when it becomes a barrier to therapy.The first step, with any therapy case, is to understand your learner. You can do this by reading the files, interviewing the parents, teachers, and other providers, and talking to the learner. You really want to know who this child is, what they like, and how they work so that you can pair your environment and therapy up to these things. Take a deep breath, take your time, and just build that relationship.If you've built that rapport and problem behavior is still occurring, you can analyze the appropriate next steps. When tier 1 or non-dangerous behavior is occurring it is important to move forward with therapy. Note it, track data on it, but keep doing what you're doing. Try to avoid accidentally reinforcing that negative behavior. But what if it's more? What is an FBA?A Functional Behavior Assessment, is a formal assessment process that must be requested as a part of an IEP. This process is worked through the team of providers, parents, and anyone who works with the learner. Next, a direct observation occurs to track patterns and antecedents. Finally, an actual analysis may be necessary where the learner will be tested. We do all this to guide us to an accurate behavior intervention plan.What is the BIP?A Behavior Intervention Plan written into an IEP to guide and shape therapy. A BIP can not be created without an FBA. Whoever develops the BIP needs to be the one to train and support staff on how to support the learner.When it comes to these plans and conversations, they are often occurring because things are not going well which can cause some contention between professionals. Kelle and I both discuss how we find it helpful to remind the team that we are in fact on the same team and that the common goal is to help the learner!To close out this awesome interview, Kelle shares a little bit about her upcoming conference, The Verbal Behavior Conference. This began in 2018, became virtual throughout COVID, and is occurring both live and virtual this year. There are a ton of great speakers and leaders in the field and so many trending topics on the billet.#autism #speectherapy What’s Inside:What is the FBA?What is a BIP?What can you do when problem behavior becomes a barrier to learning?How can speech therapists support students with problem behavior?Why does problem behavior occur?Mentioned in this Episode: ABA Speech: HomeABA SPEECH Your Autism Resource Verbal Behavior Conference

There is a strong bond between joint attention and both receptive and expressive language skills. When we work on joint attention, we are showing that our learners' communication is powerful! I am sharing a few tips and ideas that I use to build connections before communication while working on joint attention goals.These activities involve shared activities through playing with toys, singing songs, and reading books. It is okay if your student isn't ready to fully engage when you introduce these activities, note their baseline data, and move forward with goals. You will be amazed to see the transformation and excitement over these simple activities.Toys:Playing with toys in therapy is all about creating an interaction in a semi-structured environment. Remember to use simple language and allow for natural curiosity and play and not bombard with questions. Examples of toys I love to use:Car and car track Mini ObjectsFarm SetLiteracy:Build excitement around the book, use books with repetition, and if your kids like it try an animated voice which can be really fun.A few books I love to keep in my therapy bag that is a great success for joint attention are, Pete the Cat and his White Shoes, Brown Bear, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.Music:Students love songs, they are familiar and create engagement. I also love to use visuals that can be just laminated pictures or little toys that match the activity of the song. It can also be engaging to sing songs that have motions for the words.Songs I love:Old MacdonaldWheels on the BusHead, Shoulders, Knees, and ToesIt can be difficult to keep data and set goals around these abstract ideas, be sure to check out my goal bank on ABA speech. I hope you love these ideas and get used to them in your next therapy session!#autism #speechtherapy What’s Inside:How to increase learner engagement?What is joint attention?How to embed joint attention across a student's day.Where to start with joint attention.Integrating shared activities into therapy.Why should you focus on the connection before communication? Mentioned In This Episode:IEP Goals for Students with Autism - ABA Speech ABA Speech: HomeABA SPEECH Your Autism Resource 

I am excited to share my top 10 tips and strategies for supporting middle and high school-aged students. This is an area where I feel not a lot of information is available. I am very fortunate to work with kids across the lifespan from preschool ages in my private practice to middle and high school in the school setting. While I generally focus on helping autistic learners, these tips can be great for anyone working with older students. 1. Build rapport.This can be difficult and likely won’t happen overnight but it will greatly affect your relationship and effectiveness with the learner.2. Analyze your service delivery options.Your students likely have a large array of needs, how can you change the environment, setting, and therapy approach to meet those needs?3. Know who is on the team.Do your students see other therapists or other providers? Keep communication open and available for all the team members for your learner’s success.4. Focus on independence.Independence looks different for every learner and encouraging this can be done in a variety of big and small ways. 5. Create shared goals.It’s great to collaborate with other teachers and share goals, these can be developed together and supported across settings.6. Analyze the function of your goals.Always ask, how are these goals important across the lifespan? Know why you’re working on something and the scope of sequence to accomplish these goals.7. Consider working on communication as it relates to vocation and leisure.As we get older, vocation and leisure become increasingly important, students should feel really comfortable in these areas. 8. Analyze data collection.Use a variety of data collection related to goals in different forms. Self-monitoring can also be a great tool for data collection.9. Go over goals with your students.At the middle and high school, students become part of their goal-setting team, encourage participation in IEPs and keep them aware of the why behind their therapy goals. This is a great time to share how you're going to support them and what to expect.10. Reach out with any questions.Utilize resources available to you! I would love to help and share the resources I’ve created as well as support through a Discovery call. I hope you found these tips helpful. Please reach out if I can support you!#autism #speechtherapyWhat’s Inside:How can you support middle and high school, autistic learners?Can build a rapport affect therapy?Why should older students focus on independence?Should older students be involved in their goal planning?What resources are available for older autistic learners? Mentioned In This Episode:—Double Up Vocabulary and Leisure Game - ABA Speech—Vocational Binder—Discovery Call —ABA Speech: Home—ABA SPEECH Your Autism Resource  

Apraxia is something a lot of my listeners are really interested in learning about. I had Dr. Edythe Strand on the two-part episode, number 44. Today Dr. Jennifer Moore, SLP, and co-owner of Brave Wings Therapy brings us some strategies on understanding Apraxia with autism and applying the interventions to autistic learners. What is Apraxia and is it common in autism?Childhood Apraxia Speech is when the brain has difficulty planning and directing the muscles in a sequence to produce speech. Students with Apraxia might have difficult transitions from one syllable to another, you might see oral groping, vowel distortion, or errors in prosody. Autism rates have risen, current studies show approximately 1 in 44 children is diagnosed with autism. Although research does vary, within that subpopulation there is a coexistence of Apraxia in about ⅔ of those cases. How can Apraxia interventions be applied to autistic learners?Many SLP’s struggles because there are great evidence-based assessments such as DTTC and REST for apraxia. However, with these approaches, there are many prerequisite skills required for an authentic, best practice result that do not align with the “box” our autistic learners need. Effective assessments for these learners will require outside-of-the-box thinking using a mix of these approaches with modifications unique to each learner.When assessing an autistic learner, we really have to be dynamic in our approach. This means looking at sensory differences, current communication style, AAC use, receptive language, and cognitive ability and assessing each of these areas. Jennifer suggests structuring the therapy environment and before therapy, activities to be conducive to the learner and the assessments. Picking functional targets for autistic learners?Jennifer uses the term “Power Words” as an important start for learning targets. This means words that are of high use for them in their everyday life that are going to be heard and used often with a big impact. With these functional words, SLPs can look at what the student already has in terms of the sounds and oral motor skills and how to shape it. The Principles for Motor Learning guides instruction, practice, and retention for learners with apraxia and Jennifer provides great guidance on this.This was such an informative episode on modifying assessment and treatment for Apraxia in autistic learners. You can find out more about Jennifer and her work on Instagram, Facebook, and on the Brave Wings Therapy website.#autism #speechtherapyWhat’s Inside:What are Apraxia assessments?How sensory differences that may affect autistic learners.How to pick targets for autistic learners.Communication when working on interdisciplinary teams.Mentioned in this episode: Don’t miss Pyramid Educational Consultants’ Second Annual FUNctional Behavior Conference on April 4th and 5th, 2022! Pyramid’s international team of behavior analysts, and dually certified speech pathologists, led by Andy Bondy and Lori Frost, the developers of PECS, have created all new and expanded content that includes a broad range of practical information related to the field of behavior analysis. Day one will focus on content related to educational programming and program development. Day two of the virtual conference will present information related to behavior analysis and communication. Earn up to 8.0 BACB CEUs including one ethics and one supervision credit when you attend the full virtual conference. To learn more about attending the FUNctional Behavior Conference on April 4th & 5th,  visit pecsusa.com! — Dr. Moore on Instagram— Brave Wings Therapy

I often get requests for how therapists can help students who are engaging in problem behaviors that create a barrier to learning. In this interview, my colleague Sasha Long of The Autism Helper shared her “Five Favorite Antecedent Strategies”. If you’re not sure what antecedent means, Sasha gives a great explanation. For the purpose of this list, antecedent means to be proactive. This is a list of best practices that when used to their fullest potential can help teachers, therapists, and even parents become proactive instead of reactive in the face of problem behavior. 1. Evaluate the Physical Environment. Remove elements of distraction or possible sensory overload. We might not always be able to remove it all together, but we can minimize or be aware to be of support to the learner.2. Routines. Kids and adults thrive off of routine and knowing what to expect. Be sure to include several grounding activities throughout the day. We’re all human and things come up but how can you plan ahead to maintain a routine even when there is a change in the day?3. Schedules. We often have schedules for the whole day but mini schedules are the secret sauce. Try to break down the steps into every group and activity. If you can associate each activity with a visual cue in the order it happens. Keep it simple and applicable to the receptive language skills of the learners.4. Visuals. We all use them, but, why are you using them? Take a look at the receptive language skills of your learners and figure out what kind of visuals they need. Make visuals a purposeful strategy as opposed to pictures used for the sake of taking up wall space. 5. Reinforcement of replacement behaviors. When you build up good behavior, you’re not going to need to be reactive. Provide praise when students are engaged in positive replacement behaviors. Find the good even if it's small!Our end goal when working with students and implementing this list to see an increase in communication and a decrease in problem behaviors. Sasha is a wealth of information. You can find out more about her and her work through her blog and podcast, The Autism Helper. #autism #speechtherapyWhat’s Inside:Proactive strategies for students who engage in problem behavior. What to do when problem behavior becomes a barrier to learning.How to help students who engage in unsafe behavior during therapy.What are Sasha Long’s Top 5 Antecedent Intervention Strategies?How  to set up your therapy environment for the safety of your students.Mentioned In This Episode:Don’t miss Pyramid Educational Consultants’ Second Annual FUNctional Behavior Conference on April 4th and 5th, 2022! Pyramid’s international team of behavior analysts, and dually certified speech pathologists, led by Andy Bondy and Lori Frost, the developers of PECS, have created all new and expanded content that includes a broad range of practical information related to the field of behavior analysis. Day one will focus on content related to educational programming and program development. Day two of the virtual conference will present information related to behavior analysis and communication. Earn up to 8.0 BACB CEUs including one ethics and one supervision credit when you attend the full virtual conference. To learn more about attending the FUNctional Behavior Conference on April 4th & 5th  visit, pecsusa.com!The Autism HelperABA Speech: HomeABA SPEECH Your Autism Resource 

I am announcing a huge upcoming event, the Autism Connection. If you are an SLP, BCBA, teacher, or even a parent, this is going to be a great event. I partner with Sasha Long who’s also a BCBA and she’s got really great strategies that are actionable and applicable. This is a live PD in which participants will receive CEUs and certificates of attendance. Be sure to check out the talking points, event schedule, and get registered!Learn about the Autism Connection. The inaugural LIVE PD event is taking place on March 12th. Brought to you by ABA SPEECH and The Autism Helper. A LIVE ASHA approved and ACE event! Schedule: (Eastern Time) Time: 9:45 am -10:00 am Topic: Welcome Presenters: With Rose and Sasha Time: 10:00 am - 11:00 am Topic: Make the Environment a Tool not an Obstacle Presenters: Sasha Long M.A. BCBATime: 11:00 am - 12:00 pm  Topic: The Performative Power of Language in Therapeutic Spaces: Steps Towards Neurodivergent Affirming PracticesPresenters: Mari Cerda BCBA LBA Time: 12:00 pm -12:15 pm  Topic: Break Presenters: Break Time: 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm Topic: Modified Play and Leisure Skills For Preschool and Elementary Aged Students Presenters: Rose Griffin M.A. CCC/SLP BCBATime:  1:15 pm - 2:30 pm Topic: LUNCH BREAKPresenters: LUNCH BREAKTime:  2:30 pm- 3:30 pm  Topic: AAC Intervention: Supporting Communication Partners and AAC Users in Naturalistic Communication EnvironmentsPresenters: Kate Grandbois, MS, CCC-SLPBCBATime:  3:30 pm - 4:30 pm   Topic: The Best Kept Secrets of Collaborative IEP Goal Writing Presenters: Stephanie DeLussey and Rose Griffin M.A. CCC/SLP BCBATime:  4:30 pm - 4:45 pm  Topic: Wrap Up and CEU RemindersPresenters: Rose and Sasha Get Registered for the Autism Connection Now!Thank you to our sponsor: Don’t miss Pyramid Educational Consultants’ Second Annual FUNctional Behavior Conference on April 4th and 5th, 2022! Pyramid’s international team of behavior analysts, and dually certified speech pathologists, led by Andy Bondy and Lori Frost, the developers of PECS, have created all new and expanded content that includes a broad range of practical information related to the field of behavior analysis. Day one will focus on content related to educational programming and program development. Day two of the virtual conference will present information related to behavior analysis and communication. Earn up to 8.0 BACB CEUs including one ethics and one supervision credit when you attend the full virtual conference. To learn more about attending the FUNctional Behavior Conference on April 4th & 5th, visit pecsusa.com!What’s Inside:What is the Autism Connection, Live PD event?How can you attend this live event?Can you receive CEUs or other certificates by attending the Autism Connection?All about a great live event for SLPs, BCBAs, teachers, and parents. Mentioned In This Episode:Get Registered for the Autism Connection Now! ABA Speech: HomeABA SPEECH Your Autism Resource