By Matt Harrington, BCBA · Behaviorist Book Club · Research-backed answers for behavior analysts
CONNECT is an interdisciplinary skill acquisition framework designed by Amy Brownson for Autistic learners, distinguished by its grounding in safety and connection as foundational conditions for learning and its centering of the Autistic perspective in programming decisions. The model aligns skill targets with ASD diagnostic criteria, draws developmental sequences from multiple disciplines including ABA, SLP, and OT, and conceptualizes social communication as a behavioral cusp that opens access to reinforcement across diverse environments. Its distinctiveness lies in explicitly integrating relational context as a clinical variable alongside behavioral skill targets, rather than treating the social-emotional dimensions of the learning relationship as peripheral to the programming task.
In ABA, a behavioral cusp is a skill whose acquisition produces disproportionate changes in the learner's access to new environments and reinforcement opportunities — a skill that unlocks many other skills. CONNECT conceptualizes social communication in this way: when a learner acquires meaningful social communication within a context of genuine safety and connection, it produces cascading access to peer relationships, academic engagement, family interaction quality, and community participation that are not available without those communication repertoires. Framing social communication as a behavioral cusp places it at the top of the programming priority hierarchy and justifies the intensive investment that CONNECT-aligned programming requires.
Centering the Autistic perspective in CONNECT programming means that assessment, target selection, and treatment delivery are informed by knowledge of the Autistic experience — including the sensory, social, and communicative characteristics that define Autistic neurotype — rather than using neurotypical developmental norms as the exclusive reference point. Practically, this means: selecting communication targets that serve the learner's own social goals rather than exclusively normative milestones; designing learning environments that accommodate sensory needs rather than requiring sensory tolerance as a prerequisite for participation; and treating unusual or non-normative communication behaviors as potential strengths or adaptations rather than automatically as deficits to be reduced.
CONNECT integrates developmental sequences from speech-language pathology — including joint attention, prelinguistic communication, social communication pragmatics, and narrative development — alongside occupational therapy developmental sequences related to sensory processing, motor planning, and social participation. These sequences inform the ordering of skill targets within the model's framework, ensuring that foundational skills are established before more complex targets are pursued. The integration requires genuine interdisciplinary collaboration: BCBAs implementing CONNECT should be familiar with these developmental sequences through consultation with SLP and OT colleagues, joint case review, and co-assessment rather than attempting to import these domains based on self-study alone.
Assessment of safety and connection conditions involves systematic observation of learner behavior within the therapeutic relationship and setting, combined with structured family report and, to the degree possible, learner self-report. Behavioral indicators of safety include: approach toward the interventionist, tolerance for interaction and transition, reduced arousal markers during sessions, and engaged responding without excessive escape or avoidance behavior. Indicators of connection include: social referencing, initiation of interaction, shared affect during activities, and preference for the intervention relationship as evidenced by approach behavior. These observations are supplemented by identification of sensory and environmental conditions that elevate or reduce distress, informing the environmental modifications needed to establish adequate learning conditions.
Direct comparative research on CONNECT-specific outcomes versus standard ABA programming is in early stages. Broadly, the relevant comparison involves programs that prioritize relationship and safety conditions alongside behavioral skill targets versus programs that focus primarily on skill acquisition without explicit attention to relational context. The existing literature on relationship-based approaches to autism intervention — including ESDM and developmental-social pragmatic approaches — suggests that relational context influences both skill acquisition rates and generalization quality. BCBAs implementing CONNECT should maintain systematic outcome data, including both acquisition metrics and broader indicators of engagement and generalization, to contribute to this emerging evidence base.
The BCBA's role in a CONNECT-implementing interdisciplinary team is to contribute expertise in behavioral assessment, skill programming, data collection and analysis, and functional understanding of behavior while drawing on the expertise of SLP, OT, and developmental specialist colleagues for the domain-specific developmental sequences those disciplines provide. The BCBA should not attempt to unilaterally implement the full interdisciplinary framework without genuine collaboration — the model's effectiveness depends on integrating expertise from multiple disciplines, not on a single practitioner approximating multiple fields. The BCBA also contributes behavioral technology — discrete trial and naturalistic teaching procedures, reinforcement systems, data-based decision-making — to the implementation of goals identified through the interdisciplinary framework.
CONNECT engages the neurodiversity paradigm by centering the Autistic perspective in programming decisions and by treating Autistic neurocognitive differences as features of human diversity rather than exclusively as deficits to be remediated. This does not eliminate behavioral skill acquisition as a programming goal — CONNECT maintains a clear clinical target structure — but it contextualizes skill acquisition within a framework that values the learner's wellbeing and subjective experience alongside functional outcome. BCBAs implementing CONNECT are engaging practically with the ongoing conversation in the field about how behavior analysis can be responsive to neurodiversity values without abandoning its empirical foundations.
Families should be given a clear, honest description of CONNECT's foundations: that it is an interdisciplinary framework that uses ABA skill acquisition methods within a relational and safety-centered context; that it draws developmental sequencing from multiple disciplines; and that while it has a strong theoretical and clinical rationale, it is an evolving framework whose evidence base is developing. Families should understand what outcomes will be measured and how, and should be active partners in defining the values and priorities that will guide target selection. For families who have had difficult experiences with ABA or who have concerns about the approach, CONNECT's explicit centering of safety, connection, and the Autistic perspective may be particularly relevant to discuss.
BCBAs interested in CONNECT should pursue: direct training with Amy Brownson or certified CONNECT practitioners to develop fidelity to the model's specific framework; continuing education in the neurodiversity paradigm and Autistic self-advocacy perspectives to build the conceptual foundation the model requires; consultation with SLP and OT colleagues to develop genuine familiarity with the developmental sequences those disciplines contribute; and supervision from an experienced CONNECT practitioner during initial implementation to ensure that safety and connection assessment and relational context establishment are being approached correctly. Engagement with the growing literature on values-aligned, neurodiversity-affirming ABA provides important conceptual context for situating CONNECT within the field's broader evolution.
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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.