Topics in Autism

Visual Supports for People with Autism

Marlene Cohen

Visual supports—any pictorial, graphic, or scheduling aid—are excellent tools for teaching academic, daily living, and self-help skills to people with autism. This reader-friendly and practical book shows teachers, parents, and service providers how to make low-tech visual supports, and offers strategies for using them. <P> The second edition includes expanded information about using visual supports with the youngest children, advice on fading supports, and updated photo examples of: activity schedules, calendars, charts, checklists & to-do lists, color coding, flip books, graphic organizers, mnemonics, nametags, photo boards, Power Cards, scripts, Social Stories, and video modeling. <P> A new chapter covers high-tech options for visual supports (iPads, smartphones, etc.) and how to choose appropriate ones, and particular features that are good for people with autism.

Functional Behavior Assessment for People with Autism

Beth Glasberg

Parents and professionals caring for people with autism sometimes encounter baffling, challenging behavior—noncompliance, aggression, or repetitive actions—which they don’t know how to stop. The key to resolving problem behavior is to first determine its purpose by conducting a functional behavior assessment (FBA). <P> In this second edition updated with new research, case studies, and anecdotes, the authors explain how clinicians conduct FBAs: measuring behavior; observing behavior and collecting data; testing the hypothesis about the behavior's function. And now, there's new material about how to do FBAs outside of clinical settings—at school, in the community, and at home—making this strategy more accessible to parents and teachers in daily life. <P> Use the follow-on book, Stop That Seemingly Senseless Behavior! to create effective intervention plans incorporating insights learned from the FBA.