Newsletter
Volume 29 | 2006 | Number 2
Philippines ABA
By Shanti Kilduff, Reny Adrian J. Agustino, and Leah L. Gastalla
The Philippine Association for Behavior Analysis, Inc. (PABA) is a national organization whose main goal is to professionalize the use of applied behavior analysis (ABA) in the Philippines. It was founded in October 2003 by professionals of various fields.
With the growing interest and practice of ABA in our country, there is a need to professionalize the field, which is one of the main objectives of the organization. In doing this, parents and other professionals are assured that the principles of ABA are being held to a certain standard.
Along these lines, PABA is pleased to inform you that, with the assistance of Dr. Joseph Morrow, BCBA and President of Applied Behavior Consultants in California, USA, we are ready to open our doors for membership and accreditation of individuals and organizations practicing applied behavior analysis in the Philippines.
To become an accredited member, an individual or organization must have passed the standards set by the association. As an accredited member, the individual or organization’s name will be included in the list of qualified ABA practitioners/institutions distributed nationwide to doctors, schools, parents, etc.
Special discounts will also be given to members for workshops and seminars that will be conducted and sponsored by PABA.
We encourage all ABA practitioners and supporters - individuals, organizations, parents, and other types of practitioners - to apply for membership.
An Arty Afternoon
PABA let children with autism express themselves through art by giving them the opportunity to spend an afternoon with Christopher Lacson, who is currently the President of Habitat/Atalyer and was the Director of Product and Industrial Design of the Academy of Art College in San Francisco and Art Director and Production Designer of Nintendo 64 Product and PC Game Ground Effect, also in California.
The children met and drew with Mr. Lacson at his atelier last March 29, 2005. Among the children where two talented kids from the Behavioral Management for Autistic Children, Inc. (BMAC), Vell Baria and Peter Turcotte.
First PABA Symposium a Success
The first symposium of PABA, entitled “An Introduction to Applied Behavior Analysis and Autism Treatment” was held at the Institute of Social Order of the Ateneo de Manila University March 11, 2005 and attracted a crowd of almost 400, with participants from as far as Naga and Zamboanga. The tremendous response from the pre-registration to the on-site registration was so great that not everyone could be accommodated due to seating constraints.
The speakers were Steve Richardson and Caitlin Conklin of Applied Behavior Consultants (ABC), based in California, USA. Richardson is the company’s Director for Educational Services while Conklin is the Director for Community Services. The symposium provided participants an excellent overview of ABA as a treatment for autism and the speakers were very generous of their time, answering all the questions thrown to them.
PABA Members Undergo Intensive ABA Workshop
PABA organized a comprehensive four-day workshop for its members entitled “An Introduction to Applied Behavior Analysis and Autism Treatment,” which was held March 7-10, 2005 at the Fil-Indian Fellowship in Makati City.
The two speakers from Applied Behavior Consultants (ABC) in California, USA, Steve Richardson, Director for Educational Services and Caitlin Conklin, Director for Community Services, demonstrated a thorough understanding of ABA practice and made sure that the workshop was interesting and enjoyable.
The workshops included a series of intensive lectures, demonstrations, and pretend situations, all of which were evaluated by participants as beneficial to the advancement of their programs. The ABC specialists addressed:
- the goals for children receiving intensive intervention,
- the functional analysis model,
- prompts,
- reinforcement,
- error correction procedures,
- lesson formats,
- basic lessons of ABA programs and troubleshooting,
- collection data,
- methodical generalization,
- verbal operant/behavior,
- behavioral problems and assessment, and
- creating intervention plan.
An overview of an ABA education was also discussed. The speakers gave participants the chance to go through hands-on trainings to practice and enthusiastically addressed the questions being raised with utmost precision.
PABA Members Attend Singapore Workshop
Members of PABA flew to Singapore on Valentine’s Day 2005 to attend Michelle Garcia Winner’s two-day workshop entitled “Teaching Social Thinking & Social Skills to Young Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders at Home and at School” on February 15 and 16 at Furama RiverFront Singapore.
The well-attended workshop, which brought psychologists, speech-language therapists, primary school teachers, special education teachers, behavioral therapists, parents, and other professionals working with children with ASD together, focused on interventions designed to improve the social thinking and social skills of young individuals high on the autism spectrum or with non-verbal learning disabilities.
With the theme “Understanding Social Cognitive Deficits Across the School and Home Day,” Day 1 was designed to help parents and professionals understand the inner minds of persons on both ends of the autism spectrum. It focused on providing a framework to understand and assess social cognitive deficits, followed by Individualized Education Plan (IEP) goal writing, working with an instructional assistant, and best practices in assessment and evaluation procedures. Day 2’s theme was “The Nuts & Bolts of Running Social Thinking Programs: Hands-On Strategies” and was designed for professionals teaching small group sessions by providing an understanding of educational approaches that can be used with students with ASD. It addressed setting up and running a social thinking and social skills program and hands-on strategies in developing educational and social behavioral strategies to help young individuals with social cognitive deficits.
Project Embrace Launched
PABA, in cooperation with Autism Society Philippines (ASP), Pilot Consulting, Inc., Jimenez Basic Advertising, and Out of the Box Productions, formally launched Project Embrace, a multi-media campaign on autism awareness, with a fundraising dinner party May 10, 2005 at B.G.’s Restaurant in Makati City.
The well-attended party, hosted by ASP President Erlinda Koe, gathered advocates and the brightest names in the field of medicine, education, human services, and advertising. Highlighting the event was the world premiere of the TV commercials directed by Lino Cayetano and Paolo Dy, who, like most of the people involved in the campaign, provided their services pro-bono. Raffle prizes were given away courtesy of Greyhound Marketing, Virginia Food, Inc., Salon de Manila, LJC Group of Restaurants, Premiere Freeport, and Mossimo.
One of the commercials can now be seen on your favorite TV channels. For more information, you can call PABA at 892-2313.
PABA Seminar Held
PABA presented another seminar November 12, 2005 entitled “Teaching Spontaneous and Functional Communication for Individuals with Communication Disorder” at the Institute of Social Order of the Ateneo De Manila University in Quezon City with Ms. Leah Llamzon as the main speaker. Ms. Llamzon is a Speech Language Pathologist who worked in Singapore American School and Autism Resource Centre before recently moving to the Philippines.
Attended by over 80 participants, the seminar let them walk through typical language development versus atypical language development, the different stages of the communication process as it applies to individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, the basic aspects of communication through informal assessment and choosing priority goals in intervention, and how to write goals to be more meaningful to everyone involved with the student.