Using ABA to Improve the Lives of Adults with Autism in Work,
Community, and Residential Settings
Gregory MacDuff,
Ph.D., Princeton Child Development Institute
This presentation describes behavioral intervention programs
that help adults with autism complete tasks in work, community, and
residential settings. The presentation suggests that preparation
for adulthood should begin in childhood, asserts that the
curriculum should be as comprehensive and evaluation criteria as
rigorous in programs for adults as in programs for children, and
stresses the value of low client-teacher ratios. Our data suggest a
number of skills that are key to adults' successful transitions
from education programs to supported employment and other community
settings. These skills include remaining engaged without direct
supervision, using delayed reward systems, completing assignments
at criterion, following activity schedules, and exhibiting low
levels of disruptive behavior. Discussion of keys skills will be
supplemented by videotapes.
Gregory S. MacDuff, Ph.D., is the Director of Adult and
Community-Living Programs at the Princeton Child Development
Institute and Adjunct Professor at the University of Kansas and The
College of New Jersey. He has authored articles and book chapters
on incidental teaching, photographic activity schedules, staff
training strategies, prompt- and prompt-fading procedures,
behavioral intervention for adults with autism, and intervention
models in residential settings. He has lectured nationally and
internationally, and has provided consultation and training to a
variety of public and private programs.
BACB/APA CE credits offered for this
event