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| American Sign Language Training for Professionals Who Work With Children on the Autism Spectrum |
| Saturday, May 28, 2016 |
| 4:00 PM–7:00 PM |
| St. Gallen 2, Swissotel |
| Area: VBC/AUT; Domain: Service Delivery |
| CE Instructor: Karelix Alicea, M.S., BCBA, M.S. |
| KARELIX ALICEA (Lotus Behavioral Interventions) |
| Description: The workshop will actively engage participants in understanding why American Sign Language (ASL) is a beneficial response form for non-verbal children on the autism spectrum through the use of guided notes, brief quizzes, and immediate feedback. Participants will be taught how to employ ASL in a “total communication” format in order to learn a basic vocabulary of at least 30 items/activities that commonly function as reinforcers for children with autism spectrum disorders. Finally, participants will be guided on how to use these newly acquired signs for mand training with the opportunity to break into groups for role-playing opportunities. Data and video from individual cases will be presented to further support learning, with an opportunity to discuss these practices with the group at large. |
| Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the workshop, the participant will be able to: (1) identify the difference between topography-based and selection-based verbal behavior; (2) describe the benefits of using sign language as a starting point for mand training in comparison to other more popular methods such as the Picture Exchange Communication System, Augmentative/Alternative Communication (AAC) devices, and others; (3) discriminate between children who would benefit from sign language training and the few who would not; (4) manually sign at least 30 commonly preferred items/activities in ASL that can be used as a starting point for skill acquisition with their clients; (5) effectively conduct motor imitation training trials of manual signs within the context of a motivating operation. |
| Activities: Workshop activities will include the following: lecture, discussion, brief quizzes, small group breakouts, immediate feedback, data and video presentation. |
| Audience: This is a basic workshop level for all professionals who work with non-verbal children on the autism spectrum. |
| Content Area: Practice |
| Instruction Level: Basic |