Treatment of Enuresis and Encopresis for Individuals with Profound Autism Spectrum Disorder is the kind of topic that looks straightforward until it collides with the speed, ambiguity, and competing demands of busy classrooms and teacher-managed routines. In Treatment of Enuresis and Encopresis for Individuals with Profound Autism Spectrum Disorder, for this course, the practical stakes show up in safe, humane intervention that respects health variables and daily-life feasibility, not in abstract discussion alone.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via Profound Autism Summit
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Join Free →A large percentage of individuals with developmental disabilities are delayed in achieving continence or never achieve it at all. Whereas typically developing children generally achieve continence by 2-4 years of age (Blum, Taubman, & Nemeth, 2003). Incontinence has many negative side effects, such as an increased burden of care for parents, poor hygiene, physical discomfort, lack of independence, and social stigma (Cicero & Pfadt, 2002). In addition, incontinence can lead to exclusion from many settings, such as regular educations classrooms, camps, or extracurricular activities. Despite the social significance and importance of achieving continence there have been few advances beyond the procedures outlined in the study by Azrin and Fox (1971), which presented an early treatment for enuresis. Furthermore, until recently there were no well-established procedures for the treatment of encopresis. The current presentation will focus on simple empirically supported behavioral strategies to help individuals with Profound Autism achieve both urine and bowl continence.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 1 | General |
| COA | 1 | — |
| NASW | 1 | — |
| PSY | 1 | — |
Joanna Lomas Mevers, PhD, BCBA-D is the current Clinical Director for the Marcus Autism Center and an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Lomas Mevers received her doctorate in School Psychology from Louisiana State University. She completed her pre-doctoral internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the Marcus Autism Center and Emory University. Dr. Lomas Mevers has over 20 years of experience working with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and related developmental disabilities. She specializes in the assessment and treatment of severe challenging behaviors, such as aggression and self-injurious behavior. During her 20 years, she has worked with some of the most complex clinical cases. She also has extensive experience in both urine and bowel training for this population. Dr. Lomas Mevers’ current research interests include development of effective toileting interventions for both urine and bowel training and identifying behavioral treatments that are both effective and socially valid. She has published over 30 peer reviewed articles on these topics, and she is a co-investigator on several federally funded clinical trials evaluating the feasibility and effectiveness of behavioral interventions.
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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.