The Center Of Disease Control And Prevention

Having a child given a diagnosis of an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a very stressful event for parents. It is imperative to understand that there is much that can be done for both parent and the child. From the current literature we know that parents of children diagnosed with autism worry about many things like lifetime dependency to family dissonance. We know that these parents are distressed and angry, the parents of children with more unusual behaviors feel a lot more stressed than the parents of children with fewer unusual behaviors. However, having a strategy to approach it correctly and to get the best possible help for your child is probably the most important step, one can take to relieve stress and to aid the child’s development.

The PEAK Assessment tool and Relational Training System was published by Dr. Mark R. Dixon in February of 2014 after six years of empirical research. Dr. Dixon developed PEAK out of the realization that many Board Certified Behavioral Analysts (BCBA) and others working with autistic children were making clinical decisions without having a clear concept of what to instruct and how to execute it. Dr. Dixon worked with over two hundred children over a six year period of time to produce a meaningful and concise assessment of skills. Modules 1-3, Imitation, Consistency and Attention, have been researched for validity and reliability, the fourth module, Cooperation, is in the process of being tested.

The PEAK Assessment Tool and Relational Training System was published by Dr. Mark R. Dixon in February of 2014 after six years of empirical research. Dr. Dixon developed PEAK from the realization that many Board Certified Behavioral Analysts (BCBA) and others working with autistic children were making clinical decisions without having a clear conception of what to instruct and how to

Autism is a spectrum disorder with a wide range of symptoms and degrees of impairment. A person with autism lives for the most part in an isolated world unaware of the impact their behavior has on the immediate environment. Even though some may be high functioning, the majority (around 70-75%) has some amount of associated learning disabilities and about 50% score below 50 on the IQ scale. When there are profound cognitive impairments, adequate speech development is not likely, and additionally the incidence of aberrant behavior increases (Howlin, 1996). Aberrant behaviors are behavioral excesses that interfere with interaction opportunities within an individual’s environment (Matson, et al., 1996). Another high impacting area of deficiency is socialization skills. This area includes decreased responding to verbal initiations of others, inappropriate affect or facial expression during communicative interactions, eye contact and preservation on the same topic even when cues are given by the partner for a topic shift (Koegel, & Frea, 1993). Social skill impairment has some relation to the language impairment. Expressive and receptive language difficulties occur in a high percentage of autistic individuals. Difficulties in expressing thoughts and ideas can lead to outbursts of anxiety, aggression, and self-injurious behavior in those with low ability and therefore it is often incorporated into treatment approaches for

As a teacher who works in a school for children with autism, I have seen first hand how the families are affected by the disability of their child. The parents in my school have shown tremendous strength and support for their children, contributing positively to their quality of life. They come into school and learn how to work with their child, have continuous contact with the teacher, and tremendously help the school with fundraising efforts. I have been lucky enough to see the positive effects that parent support can have on a child with autism, but I am sure that there are many cases that are opposite of this. Having a child with autism does put a great strain on all family members, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

The term autism currently holds a meaning that is significantly different than when it was first adopted into our vocabulary in the 1960’s. The evolution of scientific discoveries within the field of autism research is remarkable and consistently improving. With the prevalence of autism continuing to reach sky rocketing numbers, the inclusion of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the school system is extremely important. Every child has the right to obtain an education and finding new methods that provide this for children with ASD is vital. Creating programs and techniques that can be personalized to a child is the key to them receiving the most out of their education. Discrete trial teaching, pivotal response treatment and picture

This paper focuses on applied behavior analysis (ABA). The concept of ABA in definition is the use of knowledge gained within science of behavior to improve behaviors that are socially crucial. The researchers of this paper focus not the importance of having parents use ABA training when working with their children who have autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There has been a large amount of research done on ABA techniques and it is something that has been used in many different fields of practice. Areas such as social work, education, medicine, etc have benefited from the ABA approach. Now it is important to distinguish what the views of parents using ABA are.

demonstrated that naturalistic interventions, such as pivotal response training (PRT) are effective in producing positive changes in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

The Regents of the University of California. (2014). About PRT. Retrieved from The Regents of the University of California: https://education.ucsb.edu/autism/pivotal-response-treatment

Over the years, more people are becoming aware of Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD. The growing number of individuals who are affected by ASD have been increasing over the years. This could be do to the new DSM development of what is considered ASD or simply more children are being born with ASD. Either way, ASD is more predominate in our society today. ASD is defined in the DSM 5 as having abnormal social aspects, lack of social skills, non-verbal communications skills, deficits in development, lack of understanding of relationships, and self-stimulation through repetitive behaviors (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Although these are not all of the symptoms caused by ASD

Ganz, Lashley, and Rispoli (2010) implemented FCT interventions into multiple children's treatment plans. Their research focused, specifically, on two children who had Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnoses, because neither of the children made significant communication gains after the implementation of the FCT, specifically PECS, treatment. The researchers brought up the lack of literature focusing on FCT (PECS) interventions that do not end up positively impacting a child's communication abilities. Like Tiger, Hanley, and Bruzek (2008); the authors of this article made suggestions regarding the areas the practitioner (whoever is creating the FCT intervention) should evaluate before implementing a PECS, or picture identification, intervention.

Even though the CDC provides a vast amount of information, the CDC website provides facts regarding ADHD, because CDC provides information for families and children living with ADHD and overall, broadens the public’s awareness.

Pivotal response treatment (PRT) is a form of naturalistic behavioral intervention based on the principles of applied behavior analysis, which assumes that children’s impairments can be improved with environmental manipulations such as reinforcement, consequences, and extinction (Koegel, Koegel, & Carter, 1999; Stahmer, Suhrheinrich, Reed, Bolduc, & Schreibman, 2010). Pivotal response treatment (PRT) is one of the few interventions used in the treatment of children with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that is both comprehensive, as listed by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, and empirically supported. It is also recognized by the National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that total cost in fall-related injuries will exceed over 30 billion by the year 2020 (Bonuel, Manjos, Lockett, & Gray-Becknell, 2011, p. 156). Reducing the risk of patient falls will minimize patient injuries and reduce financial constraints placed on hospitals. According to the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) the risk of patient falls is a nursing-sensitive indicator (ANA Indicator History, 2015). As a way to subside their anxiety in waiting for assistants the patient makes the decision to attempt moving on their own, a large percentage are related to restroom or bedpan usage an there is a need for physical and emotional care to diminish the risk of fall. The author explains that once a patient is found on the floor (observed or unobserved) or is lowered to the floor this constitutes a fall (Goldsack, Bergey, Mascioli, & Cunningham, 2015, p. 6). In severe cases death can occur do to falls, in minor occurrences bruising, fractures and reopening of wounds can lead to longer hospitalization that can be a financial burden to the patient and hospital. Patient can experiences an array of emotions while hospitalized such as lack of independence fear of repeated falls, embarrassment and anxiety.

This study measured the effectiveness of a joint-attention intervention on preschool children with autism. Joint attention is defined as a “child’s capacity to coordinate attention with a social partner around an object or event and is observed when the child is showing overt skills such as alternating gaze between an object and a person, pointing, showing, or giving to share or to show” (Kaale et al., 2011). This study measured the effects of joint attention intervention on these joint awareness skills and also joint engagement skills, which is seen when the child and a person are focused on the same object. (Kaale et al., 2011)