Building a Life: Applied Behavior Analysis and the Development of Meaningful Goals for Individuals with Profound Autism [PAS 2024] belongs in serious BCBA study because it shapes whether behavior-analytic decisions stay useful once they leave a clean training example and enter adult services and community participation. In Building a Life: Applied Behavior Analysis and the Development of Meaningful Goals for Individuals with Profound Autism [PAS 2024], for this course, the practical stakes show up in skills that remain meaningful when school supports disappear and adult expectations change, not in abstract discussion alone.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via Profound Autism Summit
Take This Course →Including ethics, supervision, and topics like this one. New live CEU every Wednesday.
Join Free →When it comes to planning for the transition to adulthood, significant changes are needed if desired improvements to outcomes for individuals with profound autism are to be realized. Given the consistent demonstration of poor adult outcomes, it is critical that goals written and interventions prescribed prior to the transition to adulthood are meaningful. This presentation will provide an overview of ways practitioners can change their behavior to positively impact adult outcomes. Implications for practice will be discussed including recommendations for teaching the right skills, the right way, with respect to the inherent rights of those with profound autism to have a meaningful, high-quality life.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 1 | General |
| COA | 1 | — |
| NASW | 0 | — |
| PSY | 0 | — |
Peter Gerhardt, Ed.D., is the Executive Director of the EPIC Programs in Paramus, NJ. Dr. Gerhardt has over 40 years of experience utilizing the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis in support of adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders in educational, employment, residential, and community-based settings. He has authored or edited several publications, including “Make it Meaningful: Creating Programs that Matter into Adulthood for Learners with Autism Spectrum and Related Disorders“ (Make it Meaningful Press, 2024) with Dr. Shanna Bahry, “Clinician’s Guide to Sexuality and Autism” (Academic Press, 2024) with Drs. Jessica Cauchi, Mary Jane Weiss, and Justin Leaf and “The Handbook of Quality of Life for Individuals with ASD” (Springer, 2022), on which he is a co-editor. He has presented nationally and internationally on these and related topics. Dr. Gerhardt serves as Co-Chairman of the Scientific Council for the Organization for Autism Research and is on numerous professional advisory boards, including the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. He serves as Affiliate Faculty in the Institute for Applied Behavioral Science at Endicott College. Dr. Gerhardt received his doctorate from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey’s Graduate School of Education.
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All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.