Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder who present with severe, complex behavior — including self-injurious behavior, aggression, property destruction, and behaviors that require physical crisis intervention — represent one of the most clinically demanding and policy-sensitive populations in ABA practice. Enhanced and intensive behavioral services — sometimes designated under terms like Emergency Mobile Psychiatric Services (EMPS), intensive behavioral health services, or high-intensity ABA — exist at the intersection of behavioral science, medical necessity determinations, insurance policy, and public advocacy.
Provider: CASP CEU Center
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Join Free →Advocating for Effective EMPS Services for Individuals with ASD and Severe Behavior Professional Training, Care Coordination, and Advocacy Original Air Date: May 19, 2021 CEU offered: 1.5 Learning CEU Short Title: EMPS Services for Individuals with ASD and Severe Behavior Webinar Duration: 1.5 hours CE Instructors: Mark J. Palmieri, Psy.D., BCBA-D Michael D. Powers, Psy.D. Arianna Zambrzycka, Psy.D, LBA, BCBA Abstract: p.p1 { margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #000000 } Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder and complex, severe, behavior are often unable to access the necessary services to address their urgent needs in a therapeutic, effective, and proactive fashion. Very often families rely on emergency supports such as Emergency Mobile Psychiatric Services (EMPS) when faced with dangerous behavior which puts the safety of the child with autism, the family, and the home at significant risk. Unfortunately, EMPS teams are often unprepared to address the challenges these children may present in a crisis, including understanding significant functional communication delays, restrictive and repetitive behavior patterns, aggression, self-injury and elopement when faced with unfamiliar adults or scenarios, and existing available behavior supports. Common mobile psychiatric interventions which rely on talk-based de-escalation strategies and problem solving may not be at all effective and families come to find that they are left with little support to deescalate the crisis. This contributes, then, to families avoiding accessing such services for fear of being misunderstood and ultimately attempting to manage severe crises on their own, calling 911, or taking their child to the Emergency Department. This presentation will review models for collaboration with EMPS teams to address staff training opportunities as well as models for case-specific advocacy to increase the likelihood that such supports will be effective.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB | 1 | Supervision |
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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.