Loneliness is not a peripheral concern in autism services — it is a central one. Epidemiological data consistently show that autistic adolescents and young adults experience rates of loneliness and social isolation that far exceed those of their neurotypical peers, and this isolation carries measurable mental health consequences.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via HAWAI'I ASSOCIATION FOR BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS
Take This Course →Including ethics, supervision, and topics like this one. New live CEU every Wednesday.
Join Free →Research has revealed startling statistics for the prevalence of loneliness and social isolation in older children, adolescents and young adults with autism. Although applied behavior analysis has developed tools and techniques for teaching social skills, rarely are such skills beneficial for helping individuals to become members of a social community, which is problematic given the evolutionary significance of the importance of belonging to a social community. This presentation will highlight efforts towards building community in our behavior analytic programming through the dissemination of the Prosocial framework. The presentation will explore how teaching prosocial behavior over the course of small group ABA programming can promote basic friendships among individuals. The presentation will further explore the role that relational language and experiential avoidance play in the social challenges experienced by autistic individuals who desire relationships with others, and in so doing will endorse the role of Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) to directly target behavioral flexibility where social interactions and relationships with others are concerned. Finally, preliminary research projects across Emergent Learning Centers on the efficacy of synthesizing ACT and direct teaching strategies utilizing interlocking contingencies, under the framework of the WAVE Curriculum (Rehfeldt & Dixon, in press) will be shared.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 1.5 | Supervision |
Dr. RuthAnne Rehfeldt is the Executive Director for Clinical Services at Emergent Learning Centers. She is also an adjunct instructor for Endicott College. Ruth Anne is a Contextual Behavior Scientist whose current interests focus on cultivating Prosocial repertoires in autistic individuals and persons with other developmental disabilities. Dr. Rehfeldt has published nearly 300 articles and book chapters in behavior analysis, most of which have focused upon language interventions for persons with developmental disabilities and have encompassed Relational Frame Theory and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. She co-edited a book with Yvonne Barnes-Holmes entitled, “Derived Relational Responding: Applications for Learners with Autism and other Developmental Disabilities (2009),” a text entitled, “Applied Behavior Analysis of Language and Cognition,” with Mitch Fryling, Jonathan Tarbox, and Linda Hayes as co-editors (2020), and a recent text with Traci Cihon and Erin Rasmussen as co-editors entitled, “Women in Behavior Science: Observations on Life Inside and Outside the Academy” (2023). Her curriculum manual with Dr. Mark Dixon entitled “WAVE: Prosocial” will be released this summer. Dr. Rehfeldt served as the Editor and business manager for The Psychological Record for 12 years, a journal started by J. R. Kantor and for which B. F. Skinner was one of the first editorial board members. She is or has been an editorial board member for a number of prominent behavior analytic journals, including Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Ruth Anne has held a number of leadership positions within the Association for Behavior Analysis International, Dr. Rehfeldt was a Professor in the Behavior Analysis and Therapy program at Southern Illinois University for twenty years, where she won a number of teaching and research awards and served as PI on several state and federal autism-related grants. She also served as Professor and Chair at the Chicago School in Chicago. Some recent accomplishments include being awarded Fellow designation for both the Associations for Behavior Analysis International and Contextual Behavior Science, designations awarded for exemplary contributions in the areas of research and scholarship, service, and teaching.
Dig into the research behind this topic — plain-English summaries written for BCBAs.
280 research articles with practitioner takeaways
279 research articles with practitioner takeaways
258 research articles with practitioner takeaways
You earn CEUs from a dozen different places. Upload any certificate — from here, your employer, conferences, wherever — and always know exactly where you stand. Learning, Ethics, Supervision, all handled.
No credit card required. Cancel anytime.
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.