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| Pay Attention! Strategies for Active Engagement of Preschoolers with Autism in Home/Community Classroom Environments |
| Friday, May 26, 2006 |
| 6:00 PM–9:00 PM |
| Piedmont |
| Area: AUT; Domain: Applied Research |
| CE Instructor: Justin A. DiDomenico, M.Ed. |
| KATHLEEN MCCABE-ODRI (Advance, Inc./Partners in Learning, Inc.), LAURA KENNEALLY (Advance, Inc.), JUSTIN A. DIDOMENICO (Advance, Inc.), LORI A. LORENZETTI (Advance, Inc.), JENNIFER CORNELY (Advance, Inc.), NICOLE M. SWANFELD (Partners in Learning, Inc.) |
| Description: Attending and active engagement are critical components of learning. Preschoolers with autism often experience severe challenges in both attending to relevant environmental cues and sustaining attention for the duration of activities. Active engagement is vital for children to benefit from the experiences occurring in typical settings such as the home or a community preschool classroom. The attending challenges experienced by young children with autism require systematic intervention strategies specifically adapted to each environment in order to assist the child in developing improved attending skills. This workshop will address the challenges associated with engaging young children with autism in activities occurring in the natural environment, focusing on strategies and adaptations that improve the attending abilties of preschoolers with autism. We will discuss the importance of active engagement in inclusive settings, as well as meaningful participation in family activities in both the home and community environment. Examples of effective programming used by professionals and families for each environment will be presented. DVDs with sample strategies will be given to each participant. |
| Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the workshop, the participants will be able to: (1) define active engagement/attending of preschoolers per environment (2) measure engagement/attending via objective data collection procedures (3) develop strategies to address attending/engagement deficits in classroom settings (4) develop strategies to address attending/engagement deficits in home/community settings |
| Activities: Using lecture, video demonstrations, handouts and small group activities, participants will learn strategies to improve engagement and objectively measure progress of students. |
| Audience: This workshop is designed for teachers, paraprofessionals, parents, and behavior consultants for preschoolers with autism. The emphasis is on designing and implementing strategies to improve engagement in a variety of typical environments. |
| Content Area: Practice |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |