Autism 24/7: Promoting Functional Communication at Home and in the Community
Andy Bondy (Pyramid Educational Consultants, Inc.)
Invited Tutorial
PRA
Biography:Andy Bondy, Ph.D., has almost 50 years of experience working with children and adults with autism and related developmental disabilities. For more than a dozen years he served as the Director of a statewide public school program for students with autism. He and his wife, Lori Frost, pioneered the development of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). He designed the Pyramid Approach to Education as a comprehensive combination of broad-spectrum behavior analysis and functional communication strategies. He is a co-founder of Pyramid Educational Consultants, Inc., an internationally based team of specialists from many fields working together to promote integration of the principles of applied behavior analysis within functional activities and an emphasis on developing functional communication skills. He currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. He was the recipient of the 2012 Society of the Advancement of Behavior Analysis (SABA) Award for International Dissemination of Behavior Analysis.
Abstract: The Pyramid Approach to Education helps the design of effective educational environments, within school settings, as well as the home and community. This talk will address how activities and routines around the home and in the community, along with the accompanying functional materials, may involve a variety of functional communication skills. We will discuss how a set of critical communication skills can be taught by parents and caregivers independent of the learner’s modality. How to incorporate a variety of functional skills within all activities and routines will be described.